


Been Through

by RunoBaymax



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee, 소녀시대 | Girls' Generation | SNSD
Genre: Action, Crimes & Criminals, Fantasy, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:13:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 64,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22734634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunoBaymax/pseuds/RunoBaymax
Summary: Baekhyun loved his work, but he did not like running for his life and giving up on the thrill. But just as he starts to move his pawns to solve all the mess, he is forced to question everything he's seen until nowChanyeol has finally found stability in his more than unstable life. He has amazing friends who are also his family and a steady job, but he might have to give it all up when he is forced to question everything he has known.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Huang Zi Tao | Z.Tao/Wu Yi Fan | Kris, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Lu Han/Oh Sehun
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Bad Dream

Chapter 1: Bad Dream

He was tired, he had been running. It was hard for him to decipher for how long now. The only thing that he could recall was that somewhere between that time, the day bled into evening and now the sun had finally set behind the towering buildings as he kept on running, fighting for his way through the crowd with shards in his lungs and soot on his once borrowed but new dashing suit.

Exhaustion knew no bounds and even though he hated gym and everything that had to do with the letter 'G' of gym and 'E' of exercise, he couldn't help but feel thankful to Kyungsoo who dragged him from his bed and made him go through this tough routine of laps, pushups, pull ups, and a million other exercises. If he hadn't done it, he would never have been able to escape. He was utterly exhausted both mentally and physically, but stopping wasn't an option.

His situation was bad, terrible and he knew it. It was life and death. But he kept trying to let his mind wander, if only to keep it from reminding himself of how much he craved a drink of water or a bite of his favorite cheese burger. Oh Kyungsoo would kill him for even imagining the junk food, but he was so hungry and he could almost taste the images that kept flashing in his mind.

Then it happened. His legs buckled under him and he fell in a puddle with a splash, the water droplets splashed around and a few people even jumped away to avoid them. Passer bys just gave him a look of confusion and disgust. Oh how he would have looked to the onlookers. Probably a guy who has had his heart broken, panting and sitting in a puddle. Was that what they would think? Yeah maybe if they didn't think that he wet his pants first. No of course not. The puddle was too big. Baekhyun almost laughed at his stupid thoughts. Why won't his mind just shut up for once. Maybe because he wanted to go to the bathroom really badly.

He blindly raised his arm to hold on to some sort of support and caught hold of the wall. He shook his head and hauled himself to stand once more. Great, his pants were torn. Now he would have to pay for the suit he borrowed from Jongdae, if only he didn't die first. He looked ahead still panting and saw an ally. With a final look back where the sun had almost completed its descent, Baekhyun took a deep breath and ran once more.

* * *

His back slammed against the wall of the ally and he gulped down the much needed air. He needed some water now, right now. Wait, no he did not need water because he suddenly needed a loo too. The water would only make his need for loo intensify. No one would let him enter their cafe when he looked like a hobo and he still had some dignity left which he did not want to lose. Maybe it would have been good if he wet his pants in that puddle it would make things a tad bit easier for him but that won't be Baekhyun's luck then. Because Baekhyun's mama luck was out to get him.

He allowed himself to breathe better and slid down the wall into a crouching position. With his arms around his legs he leaned his head on his knees becoming small and almost invisible with his small and slim frame.

Baekhyun stayed that way for a long time, until his breathing evened out and even long after he kept crouching. He allowed the voices around him to fade. The cold, the moist of his pants, the thirst and the need to go to the loo, everything.

* * *

"Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun looked up from his computer where he was forced to fill out some paperwork regarding his last assignment. He felt ready to pull his hair out. And by the way looked it was as he actually did try to pull it out. His hair was all over the place standing everywhere from how many times he messed it up when he couldn't recall the right spellings to some word or when he spotted a typo in a report he thought he had already finished. And the voice that called him shattered his tempo that he had managed to build. Seething, smoke almost visibly coming out of his nose he looked up to see HaeChan.

"Boss called you." Said HaeChan.

Baekhyun immediately sat up straight. He opened the drawer to his right and fished out a mirror and swore at his reflection. Standing up and almost knocking over a hundred things on his desk, he made his way out of his office area and down the hall where his boss's office was.He dipped into a stall he knew as Kyungsoo's.

"Hand me a comb please Soo save my life." He begged and kyungsoo who didn't look happy at the interruption gave him one. Baekhyun combed his hair while mumbling about how unproductive it would be for his paperwork to be called down to meet the boss when he was so busy.

"Baekhyun I swear to god if you don't clean your hair out of my comb I'll slap you." Kyungsoo glared at Baekhyun who was almost out the door.

"I promise I'll do it after I get back. Promise. Boss call." If it wasn't for the call from his boss Kyungsoo would have made him sit there and clean the comb as before, Baekhyun smiled at what he could get away with sometimes. He could swear and say Kyungsoo had some sort of OCD.

"I hope Lee Soo Man doubles your paperwork." Baekhyun heard Kyungsoo shouted after him.

He knocks and checks his reflection while waiting for a response to be allowed in. He could have looked better but well it's not like Lee Soo Man hasn't seen him in his worst conditions before. He enters when he hears a soft "come in" and takes a seat in front of his superior.

"I hope when you have to finish the paperwork for the assignment I'm about to give you, you have some hair left to pull out." Baekhyun looks up with shame and hope shining in his eyes. A new assignment could mean that they'll assign his previous paperwork to someone else and he'll be back in the field where his abilities are useful.

Lee Soo Man then leaves his seat and goes around his chair to the file cabinet and pulls out the the thickest files from the unfinished case file section and puts it in front of Baek.

"This is an undercover operation and you are our main pawn for this mission, of course you will be provided extra help for it but you will have to do the hard work"

Lee Soo Man crosses the desk to lean against the table in front of Baekhyun.

"And what is this assignment about." He said trying not to swallow at the sheer size of the file that he was given.

"You'll be briefed about it by Siwon, go straight to him after this. He will assemble a team."

Baekhyun looks at the file again "Yes but what is the mission?" He narrowed his eyes expecting a series of scolding remarks.

Lee Soo Man squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed the bridge of his nose.

"Did you hear of the new prospering company Park Corp that's always on the news these days?"

"Yes, I have sir." Baekhyun breathed a sigh of relief. Lee Soo Man was in a good mood.

"Well they are involved in some shady business." Baekhyun kept looking at Lee Soo Man expecting more.

When the older man didn't continue Baekhyun asked "and that's it? No more data on?"

"That's why we have called you to go there undercover boy. If we knew things won't we just rest easy and you'll be doing your paperwork." Lee Soo Man stood up straight and walked back to his seat and sat down.

"Yes sir but the file." Baekhyun uttered, flabbergasted.

"Is it so thick?" Lee Soo Man asked and then chuckled. "That's the bio of everyone you'll be working with. You better memorize it." Baekhyun wished he could go back to his paperwork. Memorize that monstrosity? He was not a computer and he didn't have any hard drive to save data in. What if he hit his head after he memorized every bit of it and forgot all of it.

"D-do i still have to do my paperwork?" He asked tentatively.

"No we will ask one of the interns to do it. Focus on your current mission now." Baekhyun nodded and then left the room with the file as Lee Soo Man pointed at the door.

* * *

Baekhyun opened his eyes. He couldn't believe he had nodded off. He wasn't in a situation to let his guard down. He got up from the asphalt and took a moment to find his balance on his unsteady legs. For the first time he gave himself time to collect his thoughts and assess his positions. He started running towards the south so that would mean that he needed to go a little further from there. By this point the city lights were shining down on him and the sun had completely vanished.

Baekhyun kept his head down and started walking. As the night was still young, the crowd on the sidewalk was thick so he didn't have to worry a lot about the street cameras. But one could never be too careful in his shoes. He used the crowd to his advantage and as soon as he saw the crowd thickens even more he took his coat off in one swift movement and threw it on the ground and at the same time he changed his direction from south to north and started walking.

Not too long after Baekhyun smiled at the sight of a church. He made a bee line for his so discreetly his small frame kept him out of the sight of people and he had this ability to fold in on himself to look even smaller.

He went towards the church, the area was less crowded but it was exactly what he needed. In the dumpster behind the church was where people left their old clothes and Baekhyun rummaged through to find an over-sized hoodie. He made quick work to put it on and some dry pants as well.

He did it as quickly as possible and then headed north again. A burger king shop came into view and Baekhyun almost melted from happiness, crossing the road fast, he made his way towards the telephone booth. After getting inside the cubicle he poked around under the telephone stand and his hands found a lump. He tore through the tapes and got out a simple phone.

He quickly dialed the number he had memorized almost a year ago and the one they were told to use only in emergencies, and could only hope that Kyungsoo had remembered the protocol enough to have done the same routine as himself.

Thankfully Kyungsoo picked up and Baekhyun could barely hold his tears of joy back.

"Where are you, man? Are you okay?" He asked urgently.

There was some static on the other end and then Kyungsoo's voice came. "Baekhyun did you throw your old phone away yet?"

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "Yes i did kyungsoo I'm not stupid. Are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah. I'm fine. Baekhyun, I can't talk right now. I need you to memorize this address and head there. It's Kai's place. You remember him right? Head there for now. You can be on the streets too much." Kyungsoo said and then said the address twice in a code.

"Baek I'm going to destroy this phone so try the next one. You remember them all right?" Baekhyun nodded even though Kyungsoo couldn't see it and hummed in response. He was so tired. He only wanted to rest some. Then Kyungsoo hung up. Baekhyun opened the phone and collected the sim and broke it into four pieces and threw it away then he threw the phone away too one piece at a time. He felt like he was burying a body after chopping it into pieces.

He made sure his hood was covering his face well before he threw the body of the phone into an open sewer and made his way towards Jongin's house. Thankfully it wasn't too far away and he won't have to walk much. With that being the only positive thoughts in his mind he allowed himself to dream of a couch where he would be able to get some rest.

* * *


	2. Can't Bring Me Down

****

**CHAPTER 2: CAN’T BRING ME DOWN**

Jongin was in his pajamas, slumped on his shabby couch with a bowl of cereal in his hands and slowly munching on it while watching an old 90's movie that he wasn't really paying attention towards. He finished his eating and was about to curl up right there and sleep when he heard a knock. He groaned and looked at the clock, it was 2 in the morning who the hell would be knocking at his door this late at night. The knock came again and he dragged himself out of his warm cocoon and headed to open the door. A third round of knocking was just starting now louder than before.

"I said to wait!" He shouted as he threw open the door. As soon as he did someone in a dirty red hoodie pushed past him and into the door and slammed the door shut. Jongin felt scared. He was getting robbed. But he had nothing of value, the robber would know when they took first look at his small 2 room apartment. He slowly turned around to face the robber and tried his best to act confident, even though he didn't feel so brave.

"Hey! Who do you think you are?" He said but at the same time shrank back when the guy in the hoodie took a step towards him.

"I-I know how to call the cops." The guy in hoodie rolled his eyes at this stupid comment, if Jongin himself wasn’t this scared, he would have scoffed too.

"Every two year old knows how to call the cops Jongin." Baekhyun replied and took his hood off he had a white button down shirt on underneath. "Sorry for barging in but I couldn't wait outside and explain enough for you to let me in." 

Then the stranger's nostrils flared and he turned around sniffing. It was the first time he was taking the whole apartment. Dirty laundry was everywhere the couch was worn out. The sink was full of dirty dishes. The table in front of the couch was totally invisible from all the junk on it. The TV was on without the volume and the guy in the hoodie grimaced. "Out of one dumpster and straight into another. This is my safe haven?!" He scoffed.

Jongin had collected himself enough now and knew that this guy was not going to harm him immediately but still what was his purpose. "Hey listen you dirty street rat, this dumpster is my home!" He came around the stranger and stood taller so that he towered over the guy and managed to say in a strong voice, "Who the hell are you?" 

The stranger didn't pay attention to Jongin and headed towards the couch he kicked his shoes off and settled down. "Name’s Baekhyun." He yawned as soon as his head rested on the back of the couch, oh even though his couch was so worn out, to Baekhyun it felt like the nicest thing on the sofa. "Kyungsoo sent me and for the love of god clean your apartment. I have OCD." He yawned again and closed his eyes.

"OCD?! Hey you can't barge in and demand things alright?! Get up from my couch." Jongin kicked the side of the sofa. 

"No need to be hostile!" Baekhyun got up and suddenly his face changed into some weird expressions. Jongin squinted at Baekhyun trying to figure the other man out, but he didn't have to because Baekhyun's next question answered everything. "Tell me where your bathroom is?!" Jongin was still in shock from all the commotion this stranger had caused and silently pointed to his bedroom where the bathroom was and the stranger bolted. Jongin gazed after him with a confused look on his face. That man was crazy. He didn’t know Kyungsoo hung out with people like this. 

"Oh heaven!" He heard Baekhyun sigh after five minutes and he walked back into the living room. 

"Jongin, I hate to be rude but please get me a glass of water before I explain the situation I think I'm getting high from dehydration." Baekhyun croaked out and slumped on the couch again. Jongin hesitated but then went to get water for the stranger, all the while keeping a close eye on him. He was a weird man and he looked like he had faced hell's demons for sure. He almost felt sorry for him although he didn’t know why. He was seeing the guy for the first time ever.

"Here." Said Jongin as he handed Baekhyun the water and Baekhyun drank it all in one go. After sloppily wiping his mouth from the back of his hand, Baekhyun sighed again and closed his eyes for a moment. Jongin sat down on a stool near the couch and waited.

"Kyungsoo gave me your address. Just know that you are safe and I needed a place to rest. I've been running all day." Baekhyun paused and breathed. He was ready to nod off and sleep and let all his worries evaporate but he forced himself to talk more. "I can't tell you more. The less you know the better. Please allow me to stay." Baekhyun said and his head fell to the side, then he was asleep. Jongin groaned but didn't wake Baekhyun up. He silently worked in the kitchen and made ramen and took them to sleeping Baekhyun. After nudging him awake, which was extremely hard, Jongin convinced him to eat. But Baekhyun didn't seem to eat. He inhaled the ramen in one go, drank huge amounts of water, went to the loo again, this time for a longer interval and within half an hour was asleep again. Jongin looked at the clock at 3:23 am and headed to his bedroom to get some sleep for himself, however Jongin knew he'd be counting sheep.

* * *

His first day on the job, Baekhyun was less than excited to say the least. He would have to relive his rookie months in Park Corp and rookie months meant a shit load of paperwork that the people from people above him on the ladder. He sighed as he sat down in front of a desktop and stared at the stack of paper in front of him. Reports that he needed to type. Perfect. In what sick sort of way Kyungsoo's cursed words came true.

He remembered how excited he had been after he walked out of Lee Soo Man's office to go to Siwon and get more info on the assignment. To his luck Kyungsoo was also put in the same team and Baekhyun got a pinch from him cause Baekhyun hadn't gone back to clean the comb. What the hell was even wrong with Kyungsoo. Baekhyun imagined the inside of Kyungsoo's brains as just as neat and tidy all the time how his thoughts would be placed neatly on the shelves and ideas in another and some weapons in the corner for when he fantasized about killing Baekhyun. He shook his head at the thought of Kyungsoo and while sitting in front of the computer tried to collect his thoughts. He had learned the bio of everyone important from this place in a week. It had been torture with a cherry on top since he had to stay up at night to accommodate for the lack of time he had. Baekhyun grabbed the first paper from the stack to his right and tried to read. Honestly, it looked like a child's scribbles, the only difference was that Baekhyun was sure he'd be able to read what a child wrote better than this. He spent some pain stacking hours working through his pile of reports and he was proud of himself when he saw the pile shorten. As hard as this job was, Baekhyun knew it was just as important because reading these reports meant the details of some of the missions of this company and even though he only got very basic reports he knew if he performed his role well he'd be able to get his hands on the reports about more delicate business that this company was hiding and therefore his slow mission was in effect from that day. He had been given a new identity, a new address where he would live during his assignment, the place was small but cozy. He could work with it. It wasn't like he had a lot of belongings. His job never allowed him to be sentimental and the less the history the better. His new name was Ben. And he was supposed to have moved to Seoul from the USA. And that meant Baekhyun had to practice English everyday for the past week as well just to be able to pass the interview to get in this company. Of course with his charm that Kyungsoo scoffed at but Baekhyun was proud of helping him a lot and he impressed the superiors enough to be allowed a job. He recalled all the information about the people he had studied if anyone was mentioned in these reports and tried to internalize more information and it was hard. Baekhyun knew how to work his mind. He was very intelligent and could tune himself to work in any sort of circumstances. That was why he was one of the most successful field agents of SM. If he wanted to become an elite agent here as well he'd have to work twice as hard. The thing that scared him was that to gain the trust of people in Park Corp, he would have to get his hands dirty and he was anything but a foul gamer. He only hoped that by the time he would have to prove his worth and loyalty, he was ready. He had yet to find out where they had placed Kyungsoo who had applied for a job here 4 days prior. And yes, he had been able to learn all that bio in 3 days unlike Baekhyun. Maybe God had been extra careful while he made Kyungsoo a little bit of talent in basically everything Kyungsoo did, because so far Baekhyun didn't know anything that Kyungsoo could not do. Maybe that was why he was short, most of his energy went into his never ending talents. He remembered what Kyungsoo's new identity was, Domanic was also brought up in the USAas well. SM was getting bold if they thought they could get away with such similarities between the 2 employees they sent to investigate in a company and within 4 days. But then again most of the people these days were. They would have to be extra careful. It was a good thing Baekhyun knew how to walk on thin ice.

* * *

By the time morning rolled around for Baekhyun it was well after noon. He woke up at 4 PM and almost immediately was given a heart attack. Kim Jongin was leaning over him with his face extremely close to Baekhyun's. It was so close That from afar it might have seemed like some other activities were commencing. Baekhyun shouted in horror and sat up, and Jongin jerked, fell over and crawled away with a yelp too.

"What the  _ hell  _ were you doing?" Baekhyun uttered clutching the sheets to his chest and staring at Jongin with confusion. 

"Checking if u were dead!" Jongin replied in an agitated voice. 

Baekhyun instinctively rotated his head to find a clock which pointed at 12:13 Pm "Considering how I got to sleep yesterday, and with how tired I was, it's okay and normal if I sleep a little Jongin." He said and yawned loudly with his mouth wide open. "Dude it's after 4 PM! Get up and eat something." He got off the ground and headed to the kitchen.

"Is anything in the right order here?!" Baekhyun grumbled silently to himself. He was busy with another round of yawning and stretching when a knock came from the door. Baekhyun sprang off the couch, his yawns forgotten and grabbed a knife from the table in front of him. Jongin really didn't like cleaning. He motioned Jongin to stay behind him even though he tried to protest. Jongin felt afraid in moments like this, why would Kyungsoo send a lunatic to stay with him? Baekhyun slowly eased the door open and someone barged in. A short guy with a buzz cut and big round eyes. 

"What the hell is that smell? Jongin, why is your apartment so untidy cleaning it up? Baekhyun, don't tell me you just woke up. I know you can't go out but you should have done some exercise on your own here." The string of orders that came from Kyungsoo's mouth were only halted when the door was knocked at again.

“Great let’s just have a party here.” Jongin rolled his eyes. Kyungsoo opened it without hesitation and when Baekhyun protested he gave him a look that said ‘what? If they wanted to kill us they wouldn't knock.' and received the food. "Ah I was hungry. Let's eat!" He said as if this whole ordeal was normal and sat on the sofa. "Look I'm not having a part in things here, Soo what is going on why did you just say the word kill and that's my food!" Jongin walked towards the sitting man but didn't dare touch the food.

"Soo you should probably share." Baekhyun said quietly as he saw a pout forming on Jongin's face. Kyungsoo got up and washed three dishes because there were ,no more clean ones to use from. "Sit down I'll serve." He said to the other two and busied himself in making a decent serving. "After this I expect you to clean this mess Jongin, we will be staying a while." He took the packed disposable chopsticks and started eating. "Hmm this is good." He continued talking to himself. Baekhyun was impressed by the way jongin was taking in each word Kyungsoo said, like it was a tasty drink. He always had that dominating aura to make people do what he wanted.

"Why are you here?" Baekhyun asked Kyungsoo, standing in front of him, with his hands resting on his hips..

"Wait so you can get tired of running and I can't?!" Kyungsoo gave his signature glare to Baekhyun. 

"You know what I meant!" He said with his mouth full. "What are we gonna do now? I thought you’d be doing something." 

"Me?!” He shook his head and sighed. “I tried contacting the others. There is no one there. They're all probably in hiding. Park corp, that bitch captured half of our employees and the other half are being hunted, but you are probably topping their list right now." Baekhyun couldn’t help but notice that Kyungsoo was being quiet about this whole ordeal and he kept glancing at Jongin from the corner of his eyes who was trying to clear the table. But he didn’t maul over it too much.

Baekhyun smirked. "Please tell me there is a huge bounty too! I'm expensive."

Kyungsoo gave a chuckle. "Yes you'll know how expensive you are if you ever get caught, you'll be tortured in ways you can't even imagine." He observed Jongin eating and prepared a bite for him with sauce and everything the way he knew Jongin would like. Oh yeah Kyungsoo was also a domestic freak. Baekhyun almost rolled his eyes. He was babying Jongin too much. "I won't get caught then. But don't expect me to sit around."

"What would you do?" Kyungsoo replied. "It's not like..."

Baekhyun cut him off. "I didn't leave anything behind Soo. I took everything we collected and more right before I left. They almost caught me but I didn't leave much behind."

"Regardless Baek, why does that even matter now?" Kyungsoo put his chopsticks down to fully concentrate on talking.

"Because we have to do something, I'll expose them."

"How? You'll just take the evidence, walk into the police station and thank you fairy godmother it was that easy?" Kyungsoo argued. "The police are in their pockets if you don't know that much I don't know how you even survived or what you plan to expose."

At this Baekhyun put his own chopsticks down too. "I'm not as dumb as you think Soo. Of course it's not that easy and no I will not walk in like that. It's like serving myself to them on a silver platter. But someone has to be on our side Soo! Someone has to push against this rubbish."

"Everyone who can make a difference is in their pocket they know how to play this game. Unlucky for us. Soo Man played this the best and he's probably in their dungeon right now." Kyungsoo had finished his food and so had Jongin and he was not dozing off on Kyungsoo's shoulder.

"Wait they caught him?" Baekhyun asked horrified. Kyungsoo nodded solemnly and gently pushed Jongin's head from his shoulder on to Baekhyun's. "Well we'll go to the media then!" He was getting desperate. 

"They're also no good. Everything is already out of our hands." Kyungsoo gathered the dishes and all the other kitchen related items on the table and carried them to the kitchen. Which was just a bunch of cabinets and a counter on one side of the living room. The sound of tap water on dishes filled the air as Kyungsoo started cleaning.

Baekhyun adjusted Jongin on his shoulder and twisted slightly to keep Kyungsoo in his sight as he talked. "I told you I'm not giving up!"

"What will you do?" Kyungsoo posed quietly.

"I don't know yet! Something!"

"What?" Kyungsoo insisted.

"How about we gather people as much as we can who are on our side from places that can help! Policeman camera men! Journalists!"

"They're all rookie class! And mostly driven by their new excitement."

"But we can make an impact Soo. Rookies are not bad!"

Kyungsoo shook his head and sighed.

"Baekhyun it's not as easy...."

"I know how hard it will be and dangerous and how hard it will be to talk someone into helping us. But you can sit here and fear the outside world as it hunts you or you can clean up the mess walk with your head high again." Baekhyun gently lifted Jongin from his shoulder and placed him on the couch. He was deeply asleep by now and only now was Baekhyun noticing the dark circles under his eyes. He had probably watched Baekhyun all night because he couldn't trust him.

"I won’t allow them to bring me down so easily Soo. I've already made my choice. It's time you made yours."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the title is taken from EXO's Repackage album Lotto. I've come across many people who have not heard this track before so in case you haven't, check it out, It's Awesome!!  
> Kudos and comments are welcomed.


	3. Sweet Lies

CHAPTER 3: SWEET LIES

Baekhyun was sitting on the ground with his back against the couch, he was watching TV with the lowest volume so it would not disturb Jongin. He had been sleeping for 3 hours now and earlier after he and Kyungsoo had tidied up the apartment, Kyungsoo went to get some sleep as well. Therefore, Baekhyun who had slept for 12 hours was left alone with a heavy head and a silenced time. He felt like he would go crazy after a while with nothing to do, he couldn't leave, he didn't have his phone, everyone else was sleeping, and then there was that whole situation with his colleagues being in the hands of Park Corp. Baekhyun was tired of the ringing in his head, so he had taken some time to search for a paper and a pen, which was harder than he could have imagined and started writing all the things he knew so far. He wrote down about everyone he knew to be in Park Hyung Sik’s pocket and then every one he knew was captured. Then the ones who had ratted him out and betrayed Soo Man and lastly the ones on the run. He knew his information wasn't that good because for the past few days he had been worried about keeping his image safe as the Park Corp had realized there was a snitch in their midst. He hadn't been able to pay much attention to the extra issues. Then the place he had known for years, where he had worked for years had come crashing down, metaphorically speaking and the people he knew for a long time, were in trouble. Big fat ass trouble. Baekhyun had not wanted to let that thought inside but somehow it had gotten in and the ringing, if possible got louder. He only wished he could save all of his colleagues and not have casualties. However in stations like this he knew collateral damage was inevitable. He would have to bury some of his friends and people he cared about. That thought irritated him. He had not known when he had taken this job that it could spiral so far out of control. He had no idea it was going to get this serious and he blamed himself for not realizing and not taking it seriously before hand. Bringing SM down was the very first big step Park Corp had taken so it was mostly inevitable to see it coming. They had been involved in a list of embezzlement and other illegal activities but never to this extent that totally shut another establishment as big as SM was, down and so fast at that. It seemed to Baekhyun like one day SM was there and he could rely on help from it and the next he was standing all alone with his sense of direction lost. It was his fault right? Baekhyun had his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. In the end to avoid panicked and negative thoughts, he simply turned the TV on and started watching the first thing that caught his attention that happened to be some weird movie from the 80's. With the volume so low he could hardly hear what anyone was saying but even if he could hear it, he was too distracted to pay attention but it did help numb him a little. He had checked the kitchen cabinets earlier too in hopes of finding some alcohol. Since he had a low tolerance he doubted Jongin would even miss it if he drowned one bottle. In that quietness, Baekhyun almost fell asleep again.Tired of his overflowing boredom. He started shuffling through the channels and he stumbled upon a news channel. A reporter was standing in front of the now empty SM building talking about how the mysterious series of serious events caused it to completely shut down. Most people didn't even know what SM was for since it had an underground business of spies and all, it was mandatory to keep the cover up. 

And then the reporter finished his report and thanked his crew and cameraman, Junmyeon. Baekhyun's ears perked up. Junmyeon, of course! He was a cameraman who worked in a news company. Baekhyun's close friend who had practically raised him too. Junmyeon would help him right? Of course he would. He liked to joke about how he was his guardian. He just had to find a way to contact him and set a meet up place and time. Then he would ask Junmyeon for this favor. Baekhyun thought of how much time had passed and all the things that his captured colleagues could be going through of would have to face if he didn't hurry up. And that was enough to turn his resolve into concrete.

He only had to discuss with Kyungsoo how to actually do it. As if summoned by his thoughts, Kyungsoo stumbled into the living room sleepily and immediately went to wake Jongin up. Baekhyun could help but notice how tenderly Kyungsoo treated Jongin, as if he was his younger brother who he had to protect. And it warmed his heart. He needed some heart warming time to distract him from his worries. Kyungsoo stroked Jongin's hair and told him to wake up or he won't be able to sleep at night. Jongin sat up groggily and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, checked the time and panicked. "Shit my studio! I'm late!" He ran to his room.

" Studio?" Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo for some answers.

"Jongin is a dance instructor, a coach and choreographer."

Baekhyun who was now sitting on the sofa with Kyungsoo starred in the direction of Jongin who was running around his room trying to get his clothes ready to change into, he mismatched his steps and his knee bumped hard into the bed, a string of curses followed.

Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo again. "He can Dance?! On those clumsy legs?"

"He's the best dancer in the studio, the best teacher and he's going to become a hired choreographer at JYP as soon as he finishes his studies." Kyungsoo stated his head was on the back of the sofa and his eyes were closed. Clearly still sleepy and tired. 

A few moments later, Jongin was ready to go. He opened the door to the apartment then looked back at Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. 

"Hyung call me if you need anything." Then he vanished.

"Call him with what?!" Baekhyun said. 

"I got my phone had my fake identity and all but at least I could play Pubg in it."

Kyungsoo gave Baekhyun a look that said 'and that's why I often pretend I don't know you'. Baekhyun gave Kyungsoo a goofy smile in return.

"Kyungsoo, I have an idea." Kyungsoo groaned at that.

"Please let it go for now Baekhyun. I need to get my head straight first." Baekhyun did not like that. 

"So according to you, I'll just have to leave the ones that have been captured, Siwon's team for example on Park's mercy?" Baekhyun said it in a calm voice, laying down the basis for his point of view. "And let whatever may happen to them. Real smooth. But I cannot let them die Soo and with how long it has already been, I doubt they will have more of it hasn't been cut short already"

Kyungsoo sighed.

"I know emotional attachment was not part of my job, but I can't just ignore the people I used to know."

"Baekhyun--"

"Just hear me out." Baekhyun cut off, voice still leveled. "I'm not asking you to do something. I can easily do everything alone. But I just thought it's better to have some sort of discussion and plan it out properly before heading out."

Baekhyun turned to Kyungsoo fully. "I'm not asking you to come with me. Just to guide me a little. I'm just as upset, tired and confused as you are Soo and I also know it's hard and I might not be able to handle it. But I want to do things sooner rather than later. Before they realize more about what information we have against them and how to shield themselves." 

Kyungsoo grabbed the pillow previously used by Jongin and hugged it.

"Go and see if he has some ramen in there and then we'll go over it."

A grin spread over Baekhyun's features as he got up to make ramen.

* * *

“Mr. Ben?” Baekhyun abandoned his paperwork to look up at the CEO’s assistant. “Mr. Park wants to see you.” Baekhyun saved his work and got up from his desk to follow the assistant. He walked quietly to the office, the building was quite different than SM. To Baekhyun it looked shady, he wondered if it was because he already knew some sort of weird shit that was going on. Now that he had a good idea of what sort of activities were going on, all he had to do was gather evidence. A few days ago, he was assigned to someone else’s desk, and he had seen some files there and just his luck that, that employee had gone on a few holidays and Baekhyun was assigned his work. It wasn’t that sensitive but it was definitely a step up. It was a file of a girl. 16 years of age and her name was Lee Jihae and a small picture was attached with the file as well with a paperclip. It was all Baekhyun could look at in a short time while a guy picked up some of the recent files and put them in the bottom drawer of the desk and locked it. The file had not alarmed Baekhyun but that particular action did so, he did the only thing he could think of, he gave the name to Kyungsoo who, God bless his talents, searched the name in the national police database and found her in the missing person’s list. That information had been enough to make their eyes widen as they looked at each other. It was Kyungsoo’s job to send any information that Baekhyun gave him, back to SM, he could make it untraceable and with the job he had gotten he had enough access around to do it with his eyes closed. Baekhyun now stood in front of the office and the assistant stepped aside and motioned for him to proceed into the room. Baekhyun looked into the eyes of the assistant and got a nod as a response. That assistant was also an SM spy and sort of a backup option for Baekhyun. All he had to do was press a tiny button in his pocket that Kyungsoo had given him to signal for help. Baekhyun had decided their operations long ago and since he knew he would have to prove his worth to the CEO, he had always given the signal to the guy before he went in. Baekhyun gave a soft knock and entered when the command to enter was heard. 

Inside Baekhyun saw the guy whose paperwork Baekhyun was given. The guy who was on holiday, with his family. Baekhyun just barely stopped himself from narrowing his eyes. The Ceo finally ended his chat with Seo Je Yoo and he stood up to leave. As he was passing by Baekhyun, he stole a glance at the file he was holding and caught sight of another name, Jung Seo… But the rest was covered. He had only been working there a month and was still in a delicate position.

“Mr. Ben,” greeted the CEO. “I was just waiting for you.” Baekhyun took a step forward, head bowed a little but did not sit down. If it were Lee Soo Man he would be sitting down already and even put his feet on the table. He missed being back at SM. Everything was just so rigid here. 

“Mr. Ben, What are you doing here?’’ Baekhyun looked up a little but kept his posture respectful. “I was told that you sent for…”

“That was not what I meant.” Baekhyun tasted something bitter in his mouth. Okay, it was time for his first lie filled awkward as hell difficult conversations. “Take a seat Mr. Ben.” Baekhyun took the seat, dreading the conversation all the while. “I will ask you again.” The guy’s eyes sparkled. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?” He pronounced each word slowly. It was a test and he had to pass it at all costs. Baekhyun wanted to swallow but refrained from it. 

“I just wanted to work here Sir. I had heard a lot about it and it was a dream to be an employee here.” Baekhyun replies as unbothered by the context of his situation as he could and pumped real passion into his words, after all this was his job and he loved it. 

Mr. Park stood up from his chair as he started speaking. “You see, Mr. Ben. I have a company to run here,” Baekhyun looked up at the CEO, he was slowly walking towards him like a predator getting ready to pounce on his prey. “I expect the best from my employees. Mr. Ben, can you guess what I am getting at?” 

You are about to try to slaughter my cover sir and you are testing my balance on this tightrope, his mind screamed at him but he detached himself from his extra thoughts and slipped into another skin. From Baekhyun to Ben. He had to win this performance.

“Sir, I can only guess from my position here, I have tried to work as hard as I can to earn my place here, but I am coming to the conclusion that I have not done well enough. Please sir tell me have I done something to displease you?” Baekhyun addressed as formally as he could. The CEO Smiled but for some strange reason Baekhyun couldn’t read his expressions. When he had seen the guy for the first time during his interview he had been able to do it easily enough. But now he suddenly could not. He could not tell if that was a pleased smile or the opposite one. He wished he could know. The fact that the CEO had the ability to school his features so easily, Baekhyun got an eerie feeling as if Park could read his mind. But Baekhyun wasn’t good at his job for nothing, he could school his features too and right now, he put on the expressions of a Young boy who desperately wanted to please his parents. 

“This is not an ordinary workplace, you know the work involves some secrets as everyone loves to announce it. There are some disturbing rumors out there as well. Can you indulge me how despite all of that you chose to work here? And after a month of your continuous work, I can imagine that you are aware by now that the work of our employees who are excellent enough to work their way up the ladder is a dangerous one too.”

Baekhyun, ever since he had been given this job, knew this question was going to come and he was glad it was just when he wasn’t suspected of anything. So he had prepared for a long time for this question and he knew just what he was going to have to say.

* * *

“I like it with more soup.” Kyunngsoo’s voice broke into Baekhyun’s mind.

“Yes tiger I know.” Baekhyun carried the pot over to the wooden table and grabbed chopsticks for both of them.

“So what do you want to do?” Kyungsoo asked as he blew on the hot ramen.

“I have a Friend.” Baekhyun started explaining. “Suho Hyung. He is a very nice and kind hearted man, really helped me at some tough spots. He’s a cameraman, and a bloody senior one at that. I need to meet him and discuss this situation with him.”

“So you want me to set up a meeting place for you.” Kyungsoo figured. 

“Yes and you know do your untraceable magic.” Baekhyun added.

“Okay do you happen to have his contact number or something?” Kyungsoo asked and Baekhyun shook his head.

“Perfect!” Kyungsoo mused. “Of course you will not make things easy for me.” Baekhyun gave him a puppy dog face and Kyungsoo caved.

“Fine. But let’s wait for Jongin to get home, we can ask Jongin for help.”

“For his help?” Baekhyun was surprised. “Won’t that endanger him if someone figures out that he is affiliated with us?”

“I don’t have my gadgets Baekhyun. I will be careful. The last thing I want is Jongin getting in this mess. It's already too kind of him to house us this long. So I decided that we will get out of his hair as soon as we can. You can meet Suho and when you leave well go to one of the safe houses.”

Baekhyun nodded. “It will be for the best.”

“Yes, while you meet Suho, by the way what kind of name is Suho?” Kyungsoo said confused. He slurped on the ramen soup.

“Oh I like to call him that name because of his personality, his real name is Junmyeon.” Baekhyun explained.

"Alright. I'll contact him after Jongin returns." Kyungsoo promised Baekhyun and for the first time in a long time Baekhyun breathed easy. 

"Alright. I'll contact him after Jongin returns." Kyungsoo promised Baekhyun and for the first time in a long time Baekhyun breathed easy. 

"Thank you Soo." Baekhyun's voice was dripping with gratitude. "I- really... I know I am asking a lot of you. But really thank you."

"You're clearly not going to back down and I will not let you risk your neck alone."

"I knew you had a fetish for my beautiful neck!" Baekhyun exclaimed. Kyungsoo grabbed the first thing in his reach which was a mettle chopstick and swung it at Baekhyun and it hit harder than he could have imagined and started rubbing the spot while laughing. However their laughter was short lived because at that moment Jongin burst into the apartment out of breath. He locked the door behind him and breathlessly turned and pointed an accusing finger at Baekhyun. 

"You!" He panted. "It's you!" He was in a panicked state, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were looking at him confused and then Jongin pulled on his hair and looked around his eyes fell on the umbrella stand next to the door and he grabbed one and held it ready to swing at Baekhyun. Baekhyun stood up from the sofa, raised his arms and stepped back. "Whoa man easy!"

Kyungsoo stood up too "Jongin! What-" but Jongin wasn't listening, "Kyungsoo, get away from him!" He shouted and then turned to Baekhyun, "Who the hell are you?!"

Kyungsoo took a step towards Jongin and Jongin grabbed his arm and pulled him behind himself with one stretched out to keep him caged there. He looked like a mad man, his hair was everywhere his eyes were bulging. "Jongin what's wrong?!"

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you! I am so stupid!" He yelled but as Baekhyun took a step forward Jongin grabbed the umbrella with both arms and swung. Baekhyun had to jump back to avoid getting hit. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun tried to explain but Jongin kept screaming every time they said anything and when Jongin swung at Baekhyun again and managed to hit him lightly on the hand Baekhyun decided that it was enough.

He took long steps forward ducked under Jongin's next blow and grabbed the umbrella from the other end he yanked and Jongin who was gripping the umbrella too hard was yanked with it. He grabbed Jongin's arm hard enough that Jongin had to let it go and threw the umbrella away a crash was heard but Baekhyun didn't care in one smooth motion he twisted Jongin's arm behind him and pinned him to the door. Jongin couldn't move a muscle. Kyungsoo was shouting and Jongin was shouting. Only then did Baekhyun allow himself to hear their voices and realised Kyungsoo was asking him to let Jongin go. 

"Let me talk Soo." Baekhyun said firmly and that shut Kyungsoo up. Baekhyun was usually a very bubbly and easy going person and only rarely got angry but when he did get pissed in was very intimidating. "Jongin. I will let you go. If you give us a chance to explain and if you agree to talk like a civil person." Baekhyun explained calmly but his expressions were anything but. "I do not want to hurt you and I never did but I will if I have to. So why don't you sit down and tell us why you are so worked up?" Jongin, still out of breath now more because of the shock than anything else nodded and Baekhyun pressed him harder into the wall for the fraction of a second before letting go. He turned and rubbed his hands and dusted his shirt as if he had been rolling on the ground. Kyungsoo was checking Jongin over for wounds.

Soon enough all three of them were sitting down.

"Explain." Jongin said with a grumpily and as he sat with his ankle on his other knee and arms folded over his chest. He was shaking his foot in a sign of anxiety.

Baekhyun shook his head. "No, you first." While Kyungsoo was not okay with the way Jongin was being talked to, but he couldn't do anything to calm Baekhyun down and he knew Baekhyun would never hurt Jongin. So he went along with it, he was feeling guilty, so, so guilty..

"Come on don't bother. Don't tell me you didn't turn on the TV while I was gone." He said in a not so nice tone but he was trying hard and the context of his speech was more important to Baekhyun anyway cause he immediately stood up and turned the tv on.

He gasped. "What the hell?!" 

Kyungsoo looked ready to punch the Tv as well. There on display was Baekhyun's picture with a huge wanted for murder written under it. Baekhyun's eyes were so wide. The reporter was going on and on about how hostile the man was and everyone should be careful.they were saying to report him to the police at sight. Kyungsoo panicked and turned around. "Jongin tell me, you didn't call the authorities."

"I didn't." He answered. Baekhyun didn't believe him. He turned around, grabbed Jongin by the collar and hauled him up to a standing position. "Did you call them or did you not?!" 

"No no what the hell man" Jongin ranted. Baekhyun let him go and Jongin fell back on the sofa. Then he slumped beside Jongin with his head in his hands. His fingers were white with how hard he was pulling his hair. Kyungsoo took the remote from the ground where it had fallen while Baekhyun was attacking Jongin and shut the TV.

"Jongin I will need to explain some well cooked up shit man but please don't hate me." Kyungsoo said softly he kneeled beside Baekhyun and pried his head off of his hands. 

"Yes I can feel how cooked up this shit is Kyungsoo what sort of software engineer can do jujitsu?! What is wrong with you people?" He demanded, looking at Baekhyun from the corner of his eyes.

"I'm not a software engineer." Kyungsoo said. He was feeling so so ashamed and worried for Baekhyun at the same time he had never seemed Baekhyun so upset and quiet. It was scary. "We are, we're sort of secret agents." 

Jongin stood up. "What?!" He let out an exasperated sound and let his hand run through his hair. "And what is the reason that you've been lying for years Soo?!"

"The part where it says secret in the job description." Kyungsoo replied, he knew he was guilty but he had to stand up for himself. 

"You were never open with me and I never questioned that. But this?! You expect me to swallow this?!" Jongin shouted.

"I don't! Okay?! I don't! I'm sorry Jongin. The more you know the more danger you're in. I couldn't tell you!" 

"You didn't think that before you both turned up here." He accused.

"We did take precautions Jongin we had nowhere to go." Jongin let out a mirthless laugh at that. But didn't say anything. He raised his finger and pointed at Kyungsoo in accusation but then clenched it into a fist. 

“I can’t allow you to stay here any longer.”He sighed angrily and finally left the apartment again. Kyungsoo could only stand there in shock in the wake of the door slamming and think about how things had gotten so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hope that you enjoy this story, your Kudos and comments are welcomed.


	4. Oasis

CHAPTER 4: OASIS

Kyungsoo stared at the door and then at Baekhyun. Shell shocked and worried. He knew at least Jongin won't call the cops on them but staying the night here would be to push their luck. It was 8 O' clock and they could still find their way. He would have to make do with some internet cafe then, instead of Jongin’s computer.

He sat down on the sofa, shocked by the events, and it was a long, long time before anyone said anything. "I'm leaving." Baekhyun stated in a cold voice and took his hoodie from the perch beside the door and started putting it on.

"Baek wait! Please don't think badly of Jongin." Kyungsoo went closer to Baekhyun. But Baekhyun simply pulled his hood over his head and adjusted it. He twisted the doorknob and pulled it open but Kyungsoo put his own hand on top of Baekhyun's and pushed the door shut again. Kyungsoo touched his hand only for a moment but Baekhyun pulled his hand back like he had been burned.

"Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo asked and looked at Baekhyun whose face was a mask of calm rage.

"I don't blame Kai, Kyungsoo." Kyungsoo was shocked. Baekhyun looked Kyungsoo dead in the eyes and tried to open the door again but this time Kyungsoo pushed himself in front of Baekhyun between him and the door.

"Look, I know it was my fault. And I am so very sorry." Kyungsoo's voice was so weak as he spoke, "But please Baekhyun give me one chance, I will make it up to both of you! I will, I promise."

Baekhyun's face remained unchanged. His lips barely moved to form his next words, gaze unfaltering. "How?"

"I don't know!" Kyungsoo's voice came out loud and shattered as he admitted. "I'm scared Baekhyun. I'm so scared. I'm not scared for myself but I don't want to leave you alone, I'm scared that I'll get Jongin in trouble and that it will all be my fault. I'm so tired of this." Kyungsoo was mute a few moments ago but now that he started talking he couldn't stop what came out of his mouth. The things had gotten out of hand for the last 3 weeks only but being in an undercover assignment meant months and years of walking on a tightrope, and he was now done and tired of everything. "But please give me five minutes! And I will leave with you. I will help you anyway I can. I cannot let them win. Not like this."

"I get it was somewhat my fault, That I could have told Jongin on my own terms before exactly this happened. I was planning on doing that right after this assignment and … You know what? It doesn’t even matter anymore." He rubbed his eyes with his hand and tried to cool down. "Please Baekhyun." He felt so defeated, Baekhyun didn't reply, instead he turned and walked away and sat on the sofa once more.

Kyungsoo grabbed the notepad that Baekhyun had been working on only a couple of hours ago, how long ago that felt now, and stared at it for a minute taking the information in. That was all Kyungsoo himself had told Baekhyun before going to sleep. Kyungsoo ripped the page and shoved it in his pocket. Then he started writing a note for Jongin in neat letters. Once he was finished he put the pen down and to his surprise Baekhyun picked it up and scribbled something. where Kyungsoo's note ended and signed it. It wasn’t too long. 

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun both were ready to leave now. So Kyungsoo opened the door and Baekhyun walked out, while he himself took one last glance back and headed out into the open air.

Baekhyun was leading the way so far, Kyungsoo was tagging behind him. Finally after a long time he decided to inquire "Where are we going Baekhyun?" 

"Suho hyung has a place where he goes, when he is stressed, Cafe Universe, just down this road. Since he was the one filming the reporter who was spewing all those cooked up lies about me, I am pretty sure he would try to find me and that's the only place we both can think of."

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrow even though Baekhyun couldn't see it. " A cafe?" He repeated in disbelief. "Dude you could stand here and yell I'm the one you're looking for and you'll have a better chance." 

Baekhyun shook his head. "Don't worry Soo. I know what I'm doing." Before Kyungsoo could contradict him, Baekhyun stopped walking and an unsuspecting Kyungsoo walked into him. "You get ready to go to the safe house." He turned around to say to Kyungsoo. "This cafe of yours... Does it have computers I could use?" 

"Cafe Universe? Yeah why?" Baekhyun questioned.

“I need it to run a check on these.” He took out a couple of old emergency phones that could only be used to call or text someone. “Please don't talk to Suho inside. I'll go with you, you tell me which one Suho is... And I will send him out."

"If Suho is there in the first place." Baekhyun added. 

"Yes that. Let's go."

Not too long after they were standing near the cafe. Baekhyun stood across from the sight and squinted to see any familiar face just when he thought Junmyeon wasn't there, he saw a guy paying at the counter. 

"Soo quick he's at the counter he's about to leave. Tell him to come to the alley we just passed by." Baekhyun said and blended into the shadows. Kyungsoo ran across the road without even waiting for the cars to stop when he saw Junmyeon about to leave and caught him a few meters away from the shop. He pretended to walk beside him and conveyed his message. “Baekhyun is waiting for you in the first alley towards left.”

Then he stopped to tie his shoe laces and changed his direction towards the cafe. Junmyeon stopped for a second, considering the message and then he moved on. He saw Junmyeon go to the direction he had pointed, he first stood across the street from the alley and peered in, he must have confirmed Baekhyun's presence before going in. Once Kyungsoo was sure of Junmyeon’s meeting with Baekhyun he went inside the cafe.

Baekhyun saw Junmyeon staring at him and he was thankful for Junmyeon’s caution rather than his blind march into the alley he led Junmyeon deeper into the dark and then threw his arm around the older man.

Junmyeon squeezed Baekhyun back. "Baekhyunnie." Junmyeon sounded breathless for some reason. He pulled away and looked at Baekhyun and then pulled him back for a hug. "I was so worried."

"I'm sorry hyung." Baekhyun apologized and and looked down for the first time in a long time Baekhyun felt safe and more than that, sheltered. Junmyeon had always been like a father figure for Baekhyun even though he was only a couple years older. Baekhyun sniffed. "I'm in some deep crap." He rubbed her face and slid down the wall, on to the floor of the alley, it was damp and dirty, but Baekhyun didn't care, today had been hard enough. Junmyeon kneeled sown in front of Baekhyun and ruffled his hair. "What happened?" He asked, a frown was decorating his handsome features, Baekhyun found that his resolve was too weak to even meet Junmyeon's eyes.

"It was a new assignment, it had been going on for a year and suddenly it just ... Hyung! It only took a couple of weeks and look where it got me." Baekhyun pulled his knees close to his chest and buried his face there. Junmyeon sat down beside him and pulled Baekhyun to lean on him, like he always did. Baekhyun could be as vulnerable as he wanted in front of Junmyeon, he didn't have to pretend. 

"Hyung, why were you at Universe?" 

"I figured you would try to find me, if you needed help, so I went there." Junmyeon stated but then his face fell. Baekhyun's heart swelled at the thoughtfulness of the older man but he could sense something was wrong. Junmyeon was so selfless. How could he ask him to get involved in this mess when it was going to be so dangerous. Baekhyun will not be able to take it if Junmyeon ever got hurt.

"What are they saying about me? I didn't get a chance to hear much of it." Baekhyun asked quietly. They could hardly see anything in the dark well hidden behind a dumpster. It was smelly but it was safe. 

"It's bad Baekie. It's really bad. I'm sorry." 

"Junmyeon, please I want to do something about it. Please tell me what you know." 

"Baekhyun they are calling you a murderer, someone from SM was found dead and they're blaming you for all the chaos there and in Park Corp."

Baekhyun straightened and grabbed Junmyeon's jacket in a fist to sustain himself. 

"Who?! Who was it hyung? Who’s ..." He couldn’t finish his sentence, he couldn’t say the word ‘dead’ out loud. His voice was rough and uneven. Not at all like his own. His eyes searched Junmyeon’s face. He could tell that Junmyeon did not want to tell Baekhyun for his own sake but he relented. "They called him," Junmyeon sighed. " Jonghyun."

Baekhyun's world collapsed. The kind hearted man who Baekhyun had adored, who always helped Baekhyun with his work, was gone. Baekhyun buried his face again as the tears spilled out. He didn't want to cry. He had to be strong right now. But this was too much. Jonghyun was killed by Park Corp and they had painted his name on it. How could they? 

Baekhyun came back to reality when Junmyeon patted his back.

"Hyung, I do need your help. I need a reporter and a cameraman. I have a lot of evidence to expose and I can't go to the police like this." Baekhyun blurted it out. Why he had sought Junmyeon out. "That was the main reason I wanted to meet you actually."

When Baekhyun looked up at Junmyeon his face looked pained and guilty. " I'm sorry Baekhyun. I wish I could help. But I'll do more bad than good."

"Hyung!" Baekhyun said fearfully. He suspected that Junmyeon was in some sort of trouble, oh just how right he was. “Are you okay?”

"I tried to call you Baekhyun. Today after I found out they were painting all the blood on you, and I used a payphone. I didn't think they'd recognise me but someone else had your phone and ... They got my voice." He explained "Baekhyun, they tapped my phone and I know I am being followed, though I made sure I was alone before coming to Universe. I am so sorry."

A shadow appeared in the alley and Baekhyun jumped into a crouch behind the dumpster as silently as he could motioning Junmyeon to stay quiet. Baekhyun was ready to pounce on the intruder but only Kyungsoo appeared. He handed Baekhyun a phone and a piece of paper with a number on it. 

"It's your own number, it's saved in the phone too but memorize it and my number and delete it from the phone as soon as possible." Kyungsoo explained then he formally greeted Junmyeon after finishing his long instructions. Baekhyun sat back down and his tough demeanor was back.

"Hyung do you know anyone else who can help us?" Junmyeon thought for a long while before he affirmed. "He will be at the train station tomorrow at 3pm. He has to film the construction site, the area is not that crowded. I can't give him the details but I will tell him that he will have to meet you. He will help you. And Baekhyun?" Junmyeon’s voice turned to a firm one. "Be safe okay? And take care of Chanyeol too. I don't want any of you getting hurt. Both of you are like my siblings to me, closer even.” He paused for a moment to let it sink in then continued. “If I am able to lead the suspicions off of me I will come and help you or I will use it to lead them to wild goose chase for you, Anything I can do, I’ll do for you."

"Hyung! Don't do anything dangerous, I can't." Baekhyun's voice broke but he composed himself. 

"It will be okay Baekhyun." Junmyeon squeezed Baekhyun hard.

Junmyeon pulled Baekhyun to him and held him close. Baekhyun needed comfort. He didn't want to pull away but he did and told Junmyeon to leave here quietly. Junmyeon stood up and walked out of the alley while making a scene to fiddle with the fly on his jeans. To anyone it would look like he was taking a tinkle in the dark. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo waited for a while before exiting and heading towards their safe house.

* * *

“Thrill, sir.” Baekhyun changed his voice from the teenager into someone who knew what he was talking about. “I have learned to survive on my own my whole life, Danger,it doesn’t scare me, it excites me. I love the thrill.” Baekhyun gave a semi sinister smile that could easily be taken for his fascination with the thrill that dangerous situations bring with them. Now it was time to prove his point. Waited for the CEO to turn around and pressed a button. It was a plan Kyungsoo had come up with for exactly this kind of situation. The button would be to send an alert to Kyungsoo, the rest would be his headache. Baehyun had done his job now he had to wait for the next part to be proven loyal to Park Corp. 

The CEO started speaking again, giving a long debate on how he had struggled since an early age to survive, how he had sacrificed all, worked with every tooth and nail to get where he was today. His company was not very new by any means but it hadn’t been that long ago that its success was recognised and a lot of people found their jobs here.

“We have been keeping a close eye on you, Mr. Ben.” The CEO adjusted his coat and sat down on his seat. He had walked around the office plenty while giving Baekhyun ‘the speech’. He wondered if every new employee had to endure hours of this ranting. “You were quick to adjust and you have shown good skills while handling a sudden burden that was put on you. So we have decided to end your probation sooner and make you a full time employee.”

Baekhyun smirked internally, but kept his emotions in check in real life. 

Baekhyun figured that the older male had stopped speaking so he thanked him as much as he could without looking too smug. 

“You may go now Mr. Ben.” 

Baekhyun stood up, and sneakily pressed the button once more. Just as he did, the door to the office burst open and two men swarmed in. Baekhyun recognised one as the Ceo’s assistant, the guy swung his gun at Baekhyun and threw him out of the way as both intruders started attacking the Ceo. Baekhyun Jumped up and spurred into action. He jumped over the table and kicked the hand that was pointing the gun at the CEO, the gun fell far away while that intruder clutched his hand, Baekhyun grabbed the other one and kicked him in the stomach and then punched the other guy. In the split second Baekhyun gained he grabbed the CEO by the collar and threw him out of the line of fire. The assistant guy, pulled out his gun on Baekhyun too and then Baekhyun was circled, he was wrestling with one of them for the possession of the gun while he tried to keep the other one away from the gun that had fallen, to his surprise the gun was picked up by the CEO and he pointed it at the intruders. A shot rang out but hit no one. Baekhyun drove his knee in the sensitive area of the person he was brawling with and he almost felt sorry. However that gave him enough of a chance to shove both the assailants away and point the gun at them. Before he could even steady his gun arm though, both of them jumped out of the window behind them. Baekhyun shot after then and ran to look out of the window but the assailants were gone. He cursed and it was at that moment that several guards swarmed in, they must have been alerted by the gunshot noise. Baekhyun immediately threw his gun aside and raised his hands, the guards shoved him to the ground, and he felt the barrel of a gun press against his nape. Once the guards had finished fussing over the CEO, the older man adjusted his clothes, dusted them and stepped in front of Baekhyun. “Gentlemen, let him go. He was only helping.” the guard however tightened his hold on Baekhyun before eventually shoving him away. Baekhyun stood up and asked the CEO if he was okay. As Baekhyun was dismissed and walked out of the office he wished that the bullet he had shot had not actually hit any of the assailants, he could have a deadly aim if he willed it and in the thrill of the moment he had forgotten where he was being hostile. He couldn't decide if the CEO was dumb or not, who trusts so easily. In any case he would have to be careful. As he made his way to the cafeteria he passed by the same guy who had been in the CEO’s office before Baekhyun. His files were on the counter and he was busy in a deep conversation with someone else. This time Baekhyun had enough time to see the picture attached and the name of the person whose file it was. He sat down to get a strong cup of coffee and decided to go see Kyungsoo later. He would need to give Kyungsoo a long report to send back of his long, long day.

* * *

Baekhyun didn't expect a safe out of this status waiting for him. If anything he expected a run down place with wallpaper peeling off and hardly live able. The outside appearance hadn't helped Baekhyun's imagination. The house looked ready to collapse at any moment with boarded up windows and cobwebs decorating it. But when Kyungsoo and Baekhyun had entered, the place seemed ... Cozy. There were two floors, with two rooms on the second floor and one bathroom and 1 room, a kitchen a bathroom and a living room on the ground level. And nothing, the furniture nor the walls or floor were run down by any means. There was a modern fireplace with 2 couches in front of it and one rocking chair and a stool. Baekhyun decided that he liked it. Kyungsoo immediately went to the kitchen and started checking if it worked. Baekhyun on the other hand went to the room on the ground floor and checked the wardrobe there. There were a few clothes there, regular ones, no fancy deal. He took a new hoodie, a track pant and a towel and went into the bathroom. The water would be hell since the place had no heating system, Baekhyun could take it at the moment since he was already too cold after sitting in the damp alley his clothes were wet too, the water won’t feel too cold. So he took his time with his bath and only exited when his breath started to hitch from the cold. At least the water and gas was available even if there was no elaborate heating system for water. For the cold night they lit the fireplace and sat in front of it. Both the sofas were a fair size. If they wanted to, they could even sleep on them. They were lying down on the sofa with their feet towards the fireplace while Kyungsoo poured over the paper he had torn from Jongin's notepad. The one Baekhyun had written on.

“You know, I like Suho.” He stated. 

“I told you so.” Baekhyun replied, feeling proud.

“But he feels more than a guardian.” Baekhyun paused playing his snake game, and thought. When the snake game was over, Baekhyun perched up on his elbow and looked at Kyungsoo. 

“How so?” Baekhyun asked.

“He is like an oasis.” BAekhyun smiled and laid back down and started another game.

Kyungsoo busied himself in the paper once more. “It’s good that you wrote this down, I think we should keep track of the people who are captured and who escaped.”

“Yeah, I’m the best.” Baekhyun said, not paying attention. 

At this point Kyungsoo was only talking to keep his thoughts in order too. “So I need to contact those who I know have escaped and find out about those who we know nothing about.” He mumbled.

“Good, You’re the best too. But not as much as me.” Baekhyun mumbled back.

A moment of silence passed after that broken by Kyungsoo.

"So all of the Siwon team was captured?" He asked even though he knew it. Something about hearing it from someone else perhaps.

"Yes. Except Jonghyun hyung." Baekhyun said suddenly looking up from his tiny phone where he was playing a snake game. “He escaped?” Kyungsoo asked, he was confused because the last time he told Baekhyun was when he thought Jonghyun was Captured with everyone else from Siwon team. 

"He's gone Soo." Baekhyun's eyes filled up again and he allowed the tears to fall silently. He could feel Kyungsoo's shock radiating from him, fogging the room. “He didn’t make it.”

"That can't be true! He was captured but he-" Kyungsoo couldn't go on. 

"Suho hyung said so. He was the one that filmed the report on that." Baekhyun told him. Baekhyun heard a quiet sniffle and he knew Kyungsoo was wiping his tears off too.

Baekhyun backed out of the snake game and opened his contacts, learned the contact numbers quickly and deleted them from his phone. Kyungsoo sat up. "Baekhyun?" Baekhyun hummed in reply. "When you go meet the guy Suho sent you tomorrow, how will you know it's him?"

"I sent Hyung a text earlier from this phone he will send me the details here." Baekhyun told Kyungsoo. "You sure these phones are secure?" 

"Yes and while you were bathing I got into Suho's phone using the bug that was planted in it to tail him and no one will be able to trace any texts from him to this number and vise versa. So long as it's only messages." Kyungsoo explained 

"That's smart." Baekhyun smiled lightly. Kyungsoo smiled back. Despite their sorrow over their fallen colleague they couldn't help but breathe peacefully this small moment of quiet. When this was all over they'd make sure that everyone who hurt the people they care about would pay dearly.

"Soo?" Baekhyun called a few moments of silence later and he hummed in response too, it was so quiet in the safe house that even the smallest sound seemed loud. "How will you make it up to Kai."

"Kai and you both."

"Forget me. Your help is more than I can ever ask for Soo. I was just angry the moment back then." Kyungsoo smiled big this time looking at the ceiling, his Baekhyun was back. "Jongin, can't stay angry at me. I know him like the back of my hand." 

"I'm going out during the day tomorrow, so ..." Baekhyun paused. "I mean do you still remember where I hid the evidence files? All the scanned ones and all--"

"We will go and get it together. We have to make it out." Kyungsoo insisted. "If you can't even save your own life, how will you save other's."

Baekhyun had no answer to that. He hummed again. The sleep was over taking his senses and he was drowning in it. "I'm so tired soo. I'm going to sleep here." Baekhyun said and pulled the blanket over him. "Good night."

"Good night Baek" he heard before he was off to sleep.


	5. Damage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that you enjoy the chapter and don't forget to leave reviews. Thanks for reading!

CHAPTER 5: DAMAGE

Baekhyun looked for the baggiest jacket in the stack and a bucket hat. It hid most of his face, and with baggy pants, and he was ready to head out.

"Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo called as the other was fixing his hat. "Be careful." Kyungsoo said with a slight vulnerability in his voice, reminding Baekhyun that he cared so much. Baekhyun patted Kyungsoo on the back. "I always am."

Kyungsoo shook his head. "Things have never been this bad Baek. We are totally on our own. There is no more SM to rely on. So, I don't want you to trust anyone, no matter how trustworthy they may appear." Kyungsoo said softly and searched for words to continue, Baekhyun was looking at him contently taking in every word and feeling warmer inside with every bit of concern he felt coming from the other. "So what I mean to say is, just judge them carefully." Baekhyun placed a hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder and squeezed. The concern in Kyungsoo's voice was palpable.

"I know you are worried Soo. But you need to trust me. As much as we hate it, we're going to have to take some risks along the way." Baekhyun said and for an element of comic he added "And maybe lose a limb or two." Kyungsoo smacked Baekhyun'

On the head and then arm.

"You better hope that I don't chop off your limbs if you talk to much."

Baekhyun chuckled and smiled, though their smiles did not reach their eyes. They both knew they were pretending for each other's sake. Pretending to be okay, pretending to not be bothered by what was going on. But then Baekhyun turned serious. “I understand Kyungsoo, I will be fine and we will get out of this mess.”

Kyungsoo looked at Baekhyun for a long time, thinking about their long years together. Finally he sighed and nodded. "I hope so Baekhyun, I hope so."

Then he grabbed Baekhyun's ear from beneath his hat, Baekhyun protested but Kyungsoo pulled a little harder and said, “You better not blow anything Baek or I will find your dead body and kill you again.”

Baekhyun grimaced. “I believe you Kyungsoo." Kyungsoo let go and Baekhyun pouted and rubbed his now reddened ear. "You're mean." He pouted some more and then adjusted his hat again. Kyungsoo fished out an ear piece from his pocket and gave it to Baekhyun who fixed it in place. "Good luck." Kyungsoo said with a sturdy pat on Baekhyun's bicep, he waved him off and watched him vanish through the door.

.....

Baekhyun stood behind a tree, there was a large area where the construction was going on and a few trees in the outskirts of the area. He had a clear view of everything from there, there were 3 or 4 news channel vans parked around the area and some reporters were filming while others were doing other works.

Baekhyun looked at the message on his phone screen, At Junmyeon's message and he got a number on his screen. He called the number that Junmyeon had sent and noticed which one of the guys perked up. He recognized him as Chanyeol and he was the tallest of all the people there.

As Baekhyun got closer, he noticed that Chanyeol was not just tall, he was massive. Baekhyun suspected him to be mean and grumpy and even felt intimidated as he looked at his build. He had broad shoulders and looked very strong, the man he was filming was almost the same looking, one could even call them brothers. Baekhyun waited until they had finished filming and approached the pair even closer.

Baekhyun had to look skywards to talk to someone, he only came up to their chins, and those guys were skyscrapers.

Baekhyun cleared his throat to make his presence known both of the guys looked at him. “Are you Park Chanyeol?” He asked and got a nod from the taller one of the two. “I am.” He said for the better measure, and god was his voice like butter. It was the lowest of the low and smoothest of the smooth. Sehun went pale beside him, he had no idea of the meeting and he only saw Baekhyun as some serial killer. “Chanyeol hyung, that’s --” Chanyeol quickly placed his hammer sized hand, which Baekhyun noticed particularly, on Sehun’s mouth to shut him up and continued talking.

“Suho Hyung sent me. I need to talk to you.” Chanyeol, for a guy with an intimidating stature and a very low pitched voice, had a very innocent face with soft features and even softer posture. “Yes Suho hyung told me I’d meet you here. Let’s talk inside the van, or someone will see you.”

Chanyeol looked around and gave Sehun a warning glare to not act irrationally. All three of them cramped up into the back of the van and Sehun shut the systems down to talk to Baekhyun privately.

“What is it?”

“Mr. Park.” Baekhyun began. “I have a fair amount of things that I want to share with the world and, it's a delicate matter and I won’t lie to you, it’s even dangerous so I need you to consider before you agree to it. Well, I have some dirt on someone and I’d like to expose them. This is the safest way to do it.”

“Dirt like what?”

“Like, like…” Baekhyun looked around desperately thinking of what to say. “Look Mr. Park, if you refuse to help me, I cannot tell you all the information. As I said it’s dangerous and it will heat up even more once someone realizes what I am up to. So for your own safety I cannot tell you much until you agree to help me. I can’t trust you yet.”

“You’re the one with a serial killer name tag.” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow. “Mr. eh …” 

“Baekhyun. Just Baekhyun.”

“Okay Baekhyun, I need something to go on here, I cannot blindly rush in to help you and even if _I_ do trust _you_ because Suho hyung does, I cannot. As you said this is a delicate matter and I would have to put mine and Sehun’s safety first.”

“So you’re not going to help?”

“I didn’t say that.” Chanyeol shook his head and sighed, “I just need to know what exactly I will be dealing with. And may I tell you that no one will help you without asking a few details first. So it's better that you indulge at last some of your _delicate_ matters with me before you expect me to agree to help.”

Baekhyun sighed this time and put his head in his hands, he didn’t know what to do. He needed Kyungsoo. He pressed on his ear and called.

“Soo?”

He raised a finger to ask for a moment.

“Yeah?” He heard from the other side of the line.

“Did you hear everything?” he asked quietly hoping that Chanyeol couldn’t listen in.

“I did Baek and he _is_ right, no one would help unless we tell them something more, honestly we should have discussed something about this meeting. What choice do we have except these two?” Kyungsoo said. “Also they are rookies. I am reading their profiles right now,”

“Yes I know but for now we need _someone_ to help.”

“Then I guess you better set a meeting spot Baekhyun because this is gonna take some explaining.” Kyungsoo said.

“Tell them to come to the Heaven Motel we saw on our way to the safe house do you remember that one?”

Baekhyun nodded and then realized that Kyungsoo couldn’t see, “Okay. Is it surveillance free?”

“No but I can hack it. And Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo called, Baekhyun sensed unease in his voice Baekhyun grew uneasy too, and his senses were on high alert.

“What?” His voice was rigid.

“Taeyeon and Xiumin hyung contacted, they are coming to the safe house so come back soon.”

“Okay.” Baekhyun turned around to see Sehun and Chanyeol again, who were also chatting quietly among themselves.

“Okay but I can’t explain everything right now. I have to go soon. But can we set up a meeting place?” Baekhyun asked. Chanyeol nodded. Baekhyun typed something on his phone and Chanyeol’s phone beeped.

“Here,” He said as Chanyeol read out the address. “I’ll send the room number too. You can’t text me okay? I’ll do it from my end.” Baekhyun opened the door of the van and he was about to leave when Chanyeol called out. He looked back. “I’m not promising you anything, but if I can, I will help you. But I can’t afford to put Sehun in danger.” Baekhyun looked down and then up at Chanyeol, “I understand.” He said and left. He had to go back and meet Xiumin and Taeyeon.

* * *

"Shit!" Came a loud curse, followed by some other words that were much, much worse as another round of bullets fired somewhere over him. Baekhyun knew Kyungsoo, who was connected to his ear piece, would prefer to not have heard these words in his lifetime. He couldn't help it though, he was in such a tough spot. Their mission was to bust a hide out of the people who took some loans from Park Corps, and were now refusing to return the said amount of money. As his first field mission, Baekhyun thought maybe he would get something easy but apparently, he had impressed Mr Park with his fighting skills and he thought that Baekhyun could handle some violence. Hence there he was hiding under the kitchen sink, the place was damp and dirty with a thousand leaks, and he thought he saw a centipede creeping on the floor somewhere around the feet. He cringed at the sight and suppressed a shudder. He hated insects. Another bullet flew above and hit the wall in front of him and the surface cement covering broke and rained down on the floor. Baekhyun loaded his gun again and came out of his hiding spot, with a simple P990 and shot, while he was under the sink he had analyzed the angles of the voices and sounds of bullets being fired, it was a bit harder with a centipede trying to climb his foot but he was able to tell where the offenders were standing, so as soon as he pulled himself up, he hoped he crushed the centipede somewhere along the way, he pointed the gun one at the left and one right next to the kitchen counter and fired two bullets each, with precision. One at the arm and one at the leg. Somewhere, that won't kill the culprits. He knew it wasn't actually these people's fault that they could return the money but in fact, it was Park Corp that had really brought them to this situation and just so that they won't rat out on them or create any trouble, this mission was carried out to simply get them out of the way. Baekhyun shot again and again and yet again, stopping only to take a bit of cover or load his guns. He took a second only and then he was back on his spree. He moved through the rooms of that worn out house like a wildfire, like a vengeful demon with blood thirst. He hardly flinched as two bullets grazed him, one on his side and one on his arm. Right at that moment, Baekhyun was totally submerged in his mission's requirements. He stopped after shooting the last man down and kicking his gun away from him. The leader of the mission, Lee Jung Ho came in the room and moved past Baekhyun to the wardrobe, he prodded here and there for a while and found some files and quickly shoved them in the backpack he was carrying, Baekhyun pretended to not notice. Soon they were all out of the house and back to the clearing where their cars and getaway drivers were waiting. Lee Jung Ho made a call and it was reassured that someone will be sent to clean the mess before the police arrived. Baekhyun slumped back in his car seat and tried to breathe through pain, which was now very real and it hurt like a bitch. The leader who was in the shotgun seat turned around and gave Baekhyun a thumbs up. "You did good lad. Didn't know you had it in you." He said in his gruff voice and Baekhyun knew he would be let up more now. He was making his place more and more in the company and thanks to Kyungsoo's toys, he had been gathering evidence at a fast rate. He knew there was still the issue they had to pay attention to, the files of missing people Baekhyun had found. Two girls in their young youth. Baekhyun had seen the name of one when he was given the new desk job and the other one after the CEO was attacked. He had managed to pass by the guy with the file again and this time had caught the full name. Both times the search result came up in the missing person's catalogue. Baekhyun was working hard to get to some point where he'd be trusted with more responsibility, but for now he had done his mission well, he had needed to get his hands dirty but he did well, and for now he knew he could afford a moment to rest.

As they reached back to their head-quarter, he was led by some people to the hospital wing and by then it was getting hard for him to walk. He looked at the bed that was calling his name and laid down on it. A few moments of being poked at and he was given a sedative to rest. He closed his eyes and welcomed the blackness that waited for him.

* * *

Baekhyun walked the last bit of dirt path that led to the safe house. He kicked a stone he had found earlier again and it skidded further and kicked it again when he caught up to it. Chanyeol was a soft guy, Baekhyun could feel that he wouldn't be able to handle the stress, and thus he could feel his hope dwindling before he is even talked to Chanyeol properly. The meeting looked to Baekhyun like a formality, Chanyeol had already said no. As he got closer to the house, he felt stressed about meeting Taeyeon and Minseok, which was Xiumin’s real name. He could see the house now but just couldn't wait for the time when this all will be over. It hadn't even begun and he was already so tired of it. He wondered what Taeyeon and Minseok would tell him, he could only think about what horrors they would tell him that he had not heard of. Standing on the porch, he knocked on the door five times, each knock placed at a time space of one second that was there signal that it was only Baekhyun or Kyungsoo knocking. The door opened after a few seconds and Baekhyun entered he was ready to face his colleagues. He was shocked to not find Minseok there but Jongdae in his place, sitting on one of the couches besides Taeyeon.

He looked from Chen to Kyungsoo. His gaze was full of questions.

"Don't worry Baekhyun I didn't know either." He commented. Baekhyun went to Jongdae and hugged him, and greeted Taeyeon the same way.

"Jongdae how are you here? Where is your son?" Baekhyun asked. He motioned for Jongdae to sit back down and waited for an explanation.

"I should probably explain, I was only waiting for you I didn't even tell Soo anything yet." He stated. Baekhyun was so conflicted to see Jongdae, he couldn't even think of how to behave, he had known Jongdae aka Chen a long time ago, they had been great friends and Minseok was a part of their trio. Minseok and Jongdae were very deeply attached to each other and soon found a spark with each other. Baekhyun remembered how Minseok used to joke that Jongdae was almost like his wife and Jongdae would laugh embarrassingly but somewhere along the way they started living together, and then they started their own family when they adopted their first child. Minseok was a computer geek like Kyungsoo, his work was mostly in office. While Jongdae worked like Baekhyun in the field and he had to dodge bullets on almost a daily basis. It wasn't exactly a secure job and it didn't help them that they also made a fair amount of enemies along the way. So that was why Minseok and Jongdae decided that it was time for Jongdae to step down, they both had a fair amount of savings and Minseok's pay was enough to provide an average living for them. So Jongdae decided to stay home with their child and occasionally helped Minseok with his work.

Being in Baekhyun's shoes meant that he could not have sentimental relations, he could really endanger someone and that was why Baekhyun also cut his association with Jongdae short although they still talked now and then but it had to be cut short for them to ensure the safety of Minseok and his family.

Kyungsoo placed a tray on the table with mismatched glasses on it, offering water. There wasn't any other luxury drink that they could offer their guests. Kyungsoo sat down on the sofa beside Baekhyun.

"So... What happened?" He asked looking from Jongdae to Taeyeon.

Taeyeon looked at Jongdae and took a deep breath as she began to speak.

"I was hiding in one of the safe houses and I was trying really hard to stay off the radar. And that's when Kyungsoo's message reached me." Taeyeon explained she sipped her water and took a deep breath before she started explaining events from earlier, from when SM fell. "I was there when the building was flooded. I am so surprised there is nothing on media about the siege of SM, but it was horrible. I barely made it out alive." She looked at her hands in her lap, she still felt pretty shaken up.

"I saw what happened to Jonghyun too." Her eyes got really sad mentioning him and then became silent for a while. "Well we were notified only moments before to evacuate," She nodded at Kyungsoo "you sent out the warning?"

"Baekhyun told me to warn you guys that something was up." He affirmed.

"It was the only thing that saved most of our lives." She continued.

"Those of us who had nothing much of importance left immediately and as soon as we made it out the building was infiltrated. Those who remained were either captured or ... k-killed"

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo looked really worried and Chen looked like he was going to be sick.

"You mean there were more casualties?" Baekhyun asked shocked.

"Sulli and many others." Taeyeon replied. The media covered it all up. She stood up, unable to keep still. "Siwon's team was working full time, they've all been captured too."

She shook her head and turned around to face them. "Those of us that did manage to escape have been hiding."

"Sulli too?!'' Kyungsoo exclaimed, it was so hard for them all to swallow, imagining Jonghyun being gone was hard enough but another one of their teammates. "My information was wrong then," Kyungsoo looked at Baekhyun "I only got what I picked up from here and there."

"But did you see what happened to Minseok?"

"I don't know." Taeyeon replied sadly and Jongdae visibly tensed.

"Wait I thought he had found you." Kyungsoo expressed, "Didn't he send you here on his behalf?"

"I wish he had." said Jongdae. "Minseok and I usually don’t talk during the active missions. He had only told me that things were getting harder and more intense and that he'd contact me in a few days." Jongdae paused, his breathing was labored due to worry, he picked up the glass of water from the table and drowned it in one go.

"He never contacted, there was nothing that I could only speculate until I saw the news," He gestured towards Baekhyun "SM had been destroyed and Baekhyun was being searched for. I knew something was up." Baekhyun felt relieved thinking that Jongdae didn't mention anything about being suspicious of Baekhyun himself. "Minseok had taught me a few tricks I could use to contact his colleagues, he said it was a separate network that he created with your help" Jongdae said looking at Kyungsoo. "And I went to surf there to see if I could find anything and found Kyungsoo there looking for people."

"Jongdae you didn't have to come, what if Yunho gets put in danger?" Baekhyun expressed his concern, he thought of the little child who he had only met a handful of times but adored with a passion.

"I considered it. I heard the news yesterday, and I booked my older brother a flight back to Canada and he took Yunho there with him. Until things settle down, he has to stay there." Jongdae shuddered as the thoughts of never being able to see his child came to his mind, and it crushed him deeply. He knew that his brother would love Yunho like his own, he already did but Yunho was his child, his and Minseok’s and it was a wrench to part with his little boy who he loved with all his heart.

"Jongdae you don't have to--" Baekhyun started but was cut off. "Baekhyunnie, I _do_ have to. I can't imagine being without Minseok and if he is in trouble--" he paused. "If he really is in trouble I have to save him. I will not sit back." Then in a quieter tone he added, “He’d have done the same for me.”

"I understand." Baekhyun approved.

Just then Kyungsoo heard the laptop ping and he focused his attention on the screen. He typed in something while everyone looked at him expectantly.

“It's Tao.” He announced to the room and Baekhyun immediately scooted over and looked at the screen.

He watched as Kyungsoo Typed in “Kung Fu Panda, are you okay??”

Baekhyun held his breath and only allowed himself to relax when the reply affirmed that Tao was unhurt and in hiding.

“Ask him if he knows about Xiumin.” Jongdae was standing behind Kyungsoo and watched as Kyungsoo typed the question regarding Minseok’s whereabouts. The reply came immediately.

“He was captured.” Jongdae Gasped and stumbled backwards, Taeyeon who was standing next to him steadied him and guided him to sit down. Baekhyun also got up and offered him another glass of water.

“He’s not ...” Jongdae tried but he couldn’t finish his question. But everyone understood what he meant.

“No. He’s not. Don’t worry.” Kyungsoo consoled.

“How do you know?!” Jongdae asked in an agitated voice. “How could anyone possibly know?”

“Tao told me and he can’t give the details here.”

Baekhyun went over to look at the conversation and saw Kyungsoo typing in the address of their safe house and a long list of precautions. He only caught sight of one message by Tao before it was pushed out of the screen due to Kyungsoo’s excessive typing. “Elsa, not dead.” Baekhyun read it aloud.

“Who’s Elsa?”

“Minseok.” Jongdae said. Baekhyun’s mouth formed an ‘oh’

“He’s ice though.”

“Skipped by mind, conveyed the point though didn’t it?” Kyungsoo shortly answered and looked up from the screen before sending the long typed message.

“He wants to meet, when should I call him over?”

“Not tomorrow, we are going to meet Chanyeol then.” Baekhyun quipped.

“I’m calling him over on Thursday.” He informed and started clicking away on his laptop again.

“Who’s Chanyeol?” Taeyeon inquired.

“Someone who might be able to help.”

“That’s explanatory.” Jongdae chided.

“Calm down man! He’s a rookie reporter, we have to meet him tomorrow and ask if he can help us.”

“We’ll go with you in that case.” Taeyeon stated.

“No the less people the better.” Baekhyun countered. “I only wanted to take Kyungsoo with me.”

“We are going along Baekhyun,” Jongdae argued. “Whether you like it or not. I am not sitting back here and letting you do all the work, I have to save Minseok.”

“I understand but Jongdae…”

“I know too many people can be suspicious but I will not sit back.” Jongdae Insisted.

“Nor will I.” Added Taeyeon. “Maybe more people on our team help convince him to aid us.”

“I don’t know, he didn’t seem too keen on it.” Baekhyun notified. At this point Kyungsoo shut the laptop behind them and stood up to go to the kitchen.

“Leave it till tomorrow rest and relax for a while, we won’t know until tomorrow anyways and it is useless to worry right now.” He said he picked up two bags full of edibles and groceries that Baekhyun hadn’t noticed. Kyungsoo noticed Baekhyun’s questioned stare and answered. “A courtesy of our guests, I'll cook something for lunch and dinner.” He stated.

“Oh thank god. I have been eating only ramen for the past few days.” she confessed. Kyungsoo smiled and went into the kitchen. The kitchen was separated but there was a window that connected it to the living room and he could still listen to the conversation going on in the living room.

“He’s right.” Said Jongdae. “Let’s rest our heads, I do hope Minseok is alive, if we are going to convince that guy to help us we’re going to need an open and empty mind.” he got up from the couch too. “I’ll help with the dinner.”

“Soo, with these new people won’t we need a few more phones?” Baekhyun asked.

“I ran a security check on a few more of the phones while you were gone, they brought some with them.” He explained.

Baekhyun was left alone in the living room he could hear the soft sounds of chopping and chatter coming from the kitchen and looked there to see Kyungsoo and Jongdae immersed in deep conversation but it didn’t look to be a serious matter, he pulled the folded map towards himself and started examining it. However, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander off, what if meeting Chanyeol turned out to be a complete fail? He was so worried over this matter. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. No, he would make sure that Chanyeol agreed to help them, no matter whatever he had to do to acquire it. He was a man with a mission and despite his dim hopes with Chanyeol his over-all hope over the matter had been lifted by a notch as he witnessed more people coming over and agreeing to help. This had been Baekhyun’s missions and he was going to make things right, it was his duty and he had to fulfill it, no matter what the cost. The Damage done to them was costly and steep, they had suffered a lot because of it, the losses had hurt, but if there was one thing that all of the SM employees shared, it was a big heart and a courageous soul. Yes, the damage was bad, but they would make every man responsible pay for it.


	6. My Answer

****

**CHAPTER 6: MY ANSWER**

Chanyeol was unnerved by that Baekhyun guy, to say the least. First of all the thing that caught him off guard the most was his appearance. Despite hearing descriptions of how Baekhyun looked, his height and build along with his picture on the TV, Chanyeol was still surprised to see how small the other male looked, or maybe as Sehun commented, Chanyeol himself was too tall. And his hands were way too soft looking to have dealt with guns. Chanyeol imagined the guy to be involved in some work that had to do with guns, since he was caught in such a big murder scandal. He wasn’t sure, he had no info on him.

The van bumped into a speed breaker and Chanyeol came out of his thoughts. It was dangerous, Baekhyun had mentioned it over and over again. He felt like he had to help Baekhyun because it was Suho who’d asked him, and he felt like it was his duty, like it was some sort of payback to a man who had practically grabbed his hand when everyone else had casted him out. He was brought back to reality when the van shuddered on an uneven road and Sehun’s long speech finally got into his ear. They were already driving back for 15 minutes and Sehun hadn’t shut up about being ready to take on any danger to help Baekhyun. Chanyeol sighed and let his head fall on to the window again. He focused on the landscape outside. He could not let Sehun do anything irrational. Sehun was not much younger than Chanyeol himself but he was the youngest one in his family as well, and had always been treated like that, he was naive and innocent and driven by his childish feelings and emotions. It was surprising how grown up he could act when the situation called for it. Chanyeol was thankful that Sehun did not become spoiled in those conditions, and he adored the childish behavior of the younger.

He allowed his eyes to close and thought about the meeting he was supposed to have tomorrow. Baekhyun had only told him the name of the hotel and a particular time but never a room number. Chanyeol stared at his phone’s off-screen after a moment he closed his eyes again.

“Hyung,” Sehun called. “Hyung!” This time Chanyeol felt a nudge on his side.

“Keep your hands on the wheel Sehun.” He cautioned. He felt a nudge again.

“I asked you if you heard me.” This time Sehun drove his finger in Chanyeol’s side, it felt like he was being stabbed and he grunted.

“Sehunnie!” Chanyeol chided and glared at Sehun.

“Let’s help Baekhyun.” He dragged. Sehun had that habit of whining while trying to be. Chanyeol let his head fall back on the head rest.

“No means no.” Chanyeol insisted. “I am not even going to consider it if I sense any sort of danger in it. I already made it clear yesterday.” Chanyeol would have thought his tone left no room for arguments if he hadn’t been talking to Sehun who had a tendency to press on useless points. But Chanyeol had spoiled Sehun that much himself by listening to all of his whims. He didn’t mind it though, he loved Sehun like a little brother.

“Hyung!”

“Sehun if you insist one more time I am gonna call Suho hyung right now and tell him a flat NO.”

Sehun looked offended and pouted. Chanyeol relented. “Come on, Sehunnie you know I can’t help.” He tried to explain but Sehun’s pout only deepened. “Look I don’t care about myself, but I can’t help him alone. He needs both of us. So I am not agreeing to anything that puts you in danger. Junmyeon hyung will kill me.”

“But he is the one who told you to meet Baekhyun, so I guess he won’t object.” Chanyeol almost face palmed. “He also said it was completely my choice and I want to say ‘no’.”

“Hyung.” Chanyeol sighed as another long whine came from Sehun and this time he grabbed a tissue box from the dashboard and motioned to throw it on Sehun. If Sehun wasn't the one driving, Chanyeol would not have hesitated.

Sehun could be a handful at times.

“Hyung…” And this time Chanyeol yelled, not being able to take any more of Sehun’s whines.

“Stop the van.”

“Why-Wha-”

“Stop the van Oh Sehun. Right Now.” Chanyeol said firmly. Sehun parked on the side of the road, Chanyeol got out, opened the driver’s side door, dragged Sehun out by the arm and got ready to drive himself. Sehun rushed to sit in the passenger seat but Chanyeol started to drive. Sehun started running to catch up, after a good run that left him breathless, Chanyeol stopped and allowed Sehun in again. He leaned over and bucked Sehun’s seat belt for him and landed a firm punch on his arm.

“Jerk.” Sehun mumbled but didn’t elaborate more.

Chanyeol thanked the god for the new born silence as he drove to their workplace.

***

Chanyeol's mind was still occupied when he woke up from the little sleep he had gotten that night. He kept thinking of how things could turn out. He had lived his whole life in such conditions and now that he had been away from it for only a couple of years, he was all ready to avoid it as much as he could. A little peace, that was all he wanted in his life. He was brushing his teeth and when he looked into the mirror at his own face, he realised what he was thinking. He was more worried about himself than Sehun. It wasn't that he did not want to give Baekhyun a chance he was just afraid to lose everything he had built for himself.

In the end, he was more afraid for himself than he was for Sehun and he kept denying that.

He sighed and put his favorite clothes on, a baggy gray hoodie with black tight pants and baseball cap. He then continued to put his glasses on, checked his reflection and headed out to meet Sehun.

***

Now that they had met, Chanyeol was regretting it. It wasn't like they only met to discuss Baekhyun, they had more to discuss like their next report that they had to film in a few hours. It seemed however, that Sehun was in no mood to discuss anything other than Baekhyun.

Baekhyun this and Baekhyun that.

Chanyeol had already drowned two cups of coffee and he was now ready to throw Sehun out of the same window they were sitting beside. He had learned to tune out Sehun a long time ago so that was what he was doing now, yet it was becoming more and more unbearable with every minute. He kept staring at his phone to see if he got any messages, there were none.

Chanyeol sighed for the umpteenth time and rolled his eyes when Sehun nudged his arm and burst out laughing at something he had said himself. Chanyeol gave a small smile too, if only to make sure that Sehun thought he was listening. Although he was sure Sehun could tell by now. Plus Chanyeol had extremely expressive eyes he could not hide anything from anyone.

It was almost 1PM when Sehun suggested they go somewhere near the Heaven hotel to wait for Baekhyun's text. And by 1:30PM Chanyeol was sitting in another cafe with a third cup of coffee.

"You need to lay off of caffeine for a while." Sehun said, eyeing Chanyeol's drink.

Chanyeol was buzzing now. He was on high alert and he couldn't just wait to get over it. He would say a big fat no and everything was going to be okay, back on track, normal.

It was 2 Pm, when Chanyeol's phone pinged and like every other time he jumped and scrambled to check the notification.

Finally...

An unknown number was there. The message was very short, only stating the room number. '3'6'

"Third floor and room number six." Chanyeol read out to Sehun, "let's go."

* * *

He was crying, it had been so long already. It was almost dawn now and there was no stopping the little boy. His eyes were red and puffy, his breathing was very uneven and labored. He was crying but had long since ran out of tears. There was no one around who could see him or help him, there was only the quietness of the moment and darkness of the night. There was only misery, sadness and hardships. There had always been those hardships. The boy was sitting in an alley behind a dumpster. His whole clothes smelled like soot and garbage. His shoes had holes in it and it was really cold. He looked up at the little bit of sky that was visible and tried to calm his breathing. His chest was hurting now from all the sobs and hiccups. He looked around but there was no one. Who would be there in a dark alley anyway? The boy remembered the fairy-tale book he had stolen from another girl and read under his bed, he remembered how there were so many fairies in it who helped people. Until a while ago he used to believe in all those stories, in those fairies, but he was forced to learn the reality of this world way too quickly. Way too soon. He had decided that he would be the fairy. But he couldn't. The world won't let him. He was stuck where he was.

He just wanted out of his life, at his tender age of 7, the thought of suicide had not crossed his mind yet but the fact that he had survived was a miracle. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand. His limbs were as cold as ice. So cold that he had even stopped shivering now. He knew this was bad and that he had to get moving but he was so scared. He couldn't bring his body to move, to operate. To add more fuel to the fire, his ankle was sprained and his left wrist was most probably broken. Strange, how he had run with that ankle before and now he could hardly get his leg to move. His whole leg was throbbing with pain. Maybe running with that bad ankle was not a good idea. But he has been in a very hard situation. He had only run to save his life from the man who broke his wrist and in that spree, he had twisted his ankle and sprained it causing him to fall down the stairs. The boy had looked up at the first-floor landing to see the man with a mean face coming menacingly towards him. So he had picked himself off the floor with much difficulty and then he ran. He had not felt the pain at first. But somewhere while running he had fallen down and he had found himself unable to get back up again. So he had crawled forward on his knees and one wrist and hid behind a dumpster. All adults were monsters, he wanted to ask for help but his hope had dwindled, telling him no one would help, he was also terrified. Everyone he'd known had hurt him, both physically and emotionally. But now, his body was numb from the cold and his wrist and ankle were twice their sizes from all the swelling. He tried to crawl but found his knees tender, so he hauled himself up, one arm bracing his weight on the wall and hopping on one leg. The tears were gone, long gone now. The sobs had died down now too. And in his heart was just pure hurt and hopelessness. He would never allow himself to get caught again. Because when people saw him they contacted the authorities and they took him back to the hell holes he was so afraid of. Foster homes. He was sick of it. The one or two that had been kind up til now in the short period of his life had let him go for one reason or another, leaving him to feel rejected and dejected.

The little boy had been hoping for a while now, he didn't exactly know where he was going. He just wanted to gather some warmth. He felt if he stopped his whole body would freeze and jam and won't even move ever again. What if he died? Like one of his friends had. He kept going on and on until his vision started to cloud over and his legs started to tremble but not from the cold. He tried to keep going until his hands and knees were bleeding from crawling, when he couldn't walk. He felt like he had to walk away and move forward or he would be stuck here forever in the same endless loop of people that came back with different faces to inflict the same fate of getting hurt on him. He had to walk away or his foster guardians or supposed to be guardians, would find him again. He wanted to say foster monsters for all the good they'd done him. Soon he wasn't even able to crawl anymore, so he let himself lay still. For a minute then two, then he couldn't be sure because the next time he saw, some guy was picking him up and shaking his smaller body for him to wake up gently.

"Are you okay kid?" He heard but it sounded like it came from much much farther away. But the man was right above him. He acknowledged the insides of a car and panicked, tried to protest but he was too weak.

"Relax I'm just taking you to a hospital." The guy said as he secured the seat belt around him.

"No." The little boy groaned out, the hospital was bad, they would realize he had run away from a foster home and they would send him back. No, no, no. His head was throbbing and he felt like someone was pressing his head from both sides on the temple.

"No." He said again when the guy proceeded to enter the car.

"Okay, then can you tell me where your parents are?" And to that, the boy had no answer. He didn't know. The boy shook his head and closed his eyes for a while when he opened them, the guy was shaking him awake again, he was in his arms and the guy was about to put him on a gurney. When he was lying down, about to be taken for examination, in a hospital, right where he didn’t want to be. The guy placed his hand on his shoulder and asked tenderly, "What's your name kid?" More tenderly than anyone had ever spoken to him.

The boy didn't know why he answered. If he'd been in his senses he'd never have done it. He was trying to move his lips to form the words but the sound wasn't coming out the right way. It came out as gibberish.

Just as the nurses pulled him away. He managed to mumble and he was sure the guy had heard him. "Chanyeol."

* * *

"Baekhyun, this isn't a business meeting so calm the hell down." Kyungsoo eyed Baekhyun as he paced in the room. He was in a not so good looking hoodie and torn jeans.

"Looking good would make a good impression."

"Who the hell told you that you look good?" Asked Jongdae with a mock disgusted face.

"I know." Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "That's why I needed something better."

"Then shouldn't have thrown that suit in a dumps--" Baekhyun gave Kyungsoo a warning stare and Kyungsoo immediately shut himself up, but the damage was done.

"He's not talking about my suit is he?" Jongdae asked, eyes flitting between Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, both of whom found something interesting on the floor to examine.

"I-it might have been the one you lent me." Baekhyun mumbled. Jongdae inhaled and closed his eyes trying not to lose his patience.

"Once it's over I'm gonna make you regret that. It was my favorite suit."

"All suites are the same." Baekhyun replied immediately. Kyungsoo and Jongdae looked at him in amazement.

"You're impossible." Baekhyun only shrugged.

Their bickering came to an end when Kyungsoo's phone rang with a message.

"Okay, they're coming." He announced to the room. Kyungsoo took his place near the window where he kept an eye out. Taeyeon was stationed somewhere around the main door of the hotel to keep an eye out there. Soon after there was a knock on the door. Jongdae was the one who approached the door because so far he was the one who wasn't being looked for. Kyungsoo had searched Chanyeol and Sehun's profiles that morning and given Taeyeon and Jongdae a pic each to be able to recognize him. Jongdae let Chanyeol and Sehun in.

"Hi." Chanyeol greeted them with a bow. Sehun bowed too. Baekhyun offered Chanyeol a hand and they sat down.

Jongdae took his seat beside Baekhyun.

"Chanyeol this is Chen." Baekhyun introduced himself, then he motioned towards Kyungsoo. "And this is D.O."

Baekhyun used their code names, Chanyeol raised an eyebrow but he did not object as he acknowledged them both.

"We all came to meet you, maybe they will be able to convince you of things I couldn't." Baekhyun started.

Chanyeol nodded. "I'm still negative about it." he admitted. Baekhyun's heart gave a pang and he looked at Jongdae before continuing. Jongdae looked visibly disappointed and worried.

"Chanyeol, if we indulge this information to you, it will be hard for you to back out and you'll...."

"Be at risk." Chanyeol finished Baekhyun's sentence. "And I get that, alright? You told me that before only a few hundred times. However, what I don't get is this danger. I don't want to be in danger."

"Then I guess you should go." Kyungsoo stood up from his perch with a finality coating his voice.

"Kyungsoo wait..." Jongdae complained, turning his torso around to look at him.

"No Jongdae, if he's already decided on the matter then there is nothing we can do. There is no use in telling him. He shouldn't even be seen near Baekhyun."

Chanyeol was also standing now gathering his coat and getting ready to leave. Sehun's pose was the same as Jongdae, upright and looking at Chanyeol intently. Baekhyun was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands looking at the flow of things.

Chanyeol stepped over Sehun's legs. "Let's go Sehun."

"Hyung!" Sehun protested. His hands clutched on Chanyeol's shirt.

"Not now." He told Sehun firmly, more firmly than he had ever talked to Sehun. the younger one did not relent. Chanyeol didn't look at Sehun, he just pursed his lips and stepped away from the hold on his shirt. Sehun relented but grabbed on to Chanyeol's wrist and pulled him to the other corner of the room. Chanyeol allowed himself to be manhandled.

"Hyung please think about it. It's your last chance to decide." Chanyeol looked at the ground. "Suho hyung asked you to help them because he himself could not. You saw how they have him at the tip of their blade already. You can imagine how much he wants to help Baekhyun hyung if he's willing to bring someone else he loves into this." Chanyeol opened his mouth to argue but Sehun cut him off. "No hyung. Look at him. They're really desperate." Sehun jerked his head in Jongdae’s direction for emphasis. "Look at them and tell me that you have never been this desperate to get someone's help."

"I never asked anyone for help." Chanyeol said with a bitter note in his tone.

"Regardless, tell me you never wished for someone to help you." Sehun contradicted. Chanyeol couldn't meet Sehun's eyes. He stole a glance at the party of three who were all looking in the distance. Chanyeol could almost see the disappointment and helplessness wafting from their slumped form.

"You're just saying that for the sake of having an adventure." Chanyeol said weakly, he knew he won't be able to beat Sehun in this argument.

"No, I'm saying it for the sake of helping someone." Chanyeol sighed.

Sehun was one of the two people who were aware of Chanyeol's difficult life.

"I'm scared Sehun. This can get out of hand. I can't..." Sehun let Chanyeol rest his head on his shoulder in a hug. "I know." He assured him. "Let me do the talking." Chanyeol looked at Sehun, lips pursed like they always were while making a decision. "Fine."

Sehun led Chanyeol back to the couch and sat him down before sitting down himself.

"We'll help. But we have some conditions." He stated.

Baekhyun nodded. "Go on."

"We will be at risk, as you have already mentioned. But if we are putting our lives in danger for you, we need some assurance that we won't be totally on our own."

"We need to know you will have our back." Chanyeol explained.

"Well, that's a given. We are asking a great deal from you so obviously we will make it our priority to not let anything happen to any of you. But it's still best that you acknowledge the...."

"Danger, yes, I know, we do." Sehun finished.

"Second. Whatever happens, good or bad, you need to tell us. There will be no secrets."

"Okay." Baekhyun accepted.

"Three, you tell us how you even got to this point."

"Alright, that's what you came for in the first place. Let me think of where to start. It's really messed up." Baekhyun rambled on. But it was cut short by a loud curse that came from Kyungsoo's mouth. He stood up in a frenzy, his chair toppled over. His eyes were wide and his knuckles were white from clutching the mobile phone so hard. He looked up to meet the inquisitive stares of everyone in the room and confirmed all their horrors. "We've been found."


	7. Sign

****

**CHAPTER 7: SIGN**

"But how?" Baekhyun stood up flabbergasted. How could it be possible for his eyes to open so wide only he knew.

"I can’t - I don't know. Everything was okay and safe!" Kyungsoo stuttered out.

"Unless..." Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol.

"What?" He said his eyes were just as wide as everyone else. He didn't know why Baekhyun was looking at him.

"It's my fault." Sehun's voice cut in the chaos. "I googled you and dialed the number I saw there cause you weren't sending the room number."

"You lunatic.” Baekhyun turned to him "That's a trap to capture the people around me." His voice rose higher all the time.

"Let's just go! We have wasted enough time already." Jongdae said and grabbed Kyungsoo by the arm to steer him out of the room. But Baekhyun had other plans. He advanced on Sehun, and for a moment from how dark Baekhyun's expression had turned, Chanyeol thought he was going to hit Sehun. He could not fathom where this sudden thought came from, but he acted without thinking, at once. Kyungsoo was horrified. He didn't know what had gotten into Baekhyun as he advanced on Sehun with a murderous look in his eyes, but when he saw Chanyeol move as well, he wanted to stop it because there was going to be a fight and no one was going to get out of there alive if they were found.

But before he could think a proper action to perform between all the chaotic, unfinished thoughts, Chanyeol had already closed the distance between Baekhyun and himself and he grabbed Baekhyun's wrist and yanked. The moment Chanyeol and Baekhyun came into contact, there was a small gasp from one of the males and then there was nothing.

Literally nothing.

Kyungsoo, Jongdae and Sehun let out a small noise of surprise. One moment Baekhyun and Chanyeol were there and the next there was nothing in their place. They weren’t in that room anymore. There was just air where they had stood moments ago.

"What the hell?!" Kyungsoo screamed once more. He turned three hundred and sixty degrees trying to see if they were still there somewhere, but Chanyeol and Baekhyun had vanished into thin air.

Jongdae was also running around he opened the bathroom door as if they'd randomly appear there. Sehun sank to his knees his head in his hands. And then not a quarter of a minute later both of the lost males were there. Before anyone could respond, both their legs buckled under them, their eyes rolled back and they fell to the floor motionless. Kyungsoo shouted in horror and so did the other two or maybe it was his mind making up things. Because he wasn't so sure anymore of his surroundings, it took a moment for all of them to process what had happened truly. Then Kyungsoo and Jongdae rushed to Baekhyun shouting his name and Sehun rushed to Chanyeol.

Loud and panicked voices emanated inside the room. Kyungsoo kept shouting Baekhyun's name and shaking him but there was no response. Jongdae even tried slapping Baekhyun's cheek but there was no movement. As Jongdae leaned down to check Baekhyun's heartbeat and breathing, Kyungsoo turned his attention to Sehun who had also had no luck rousing the older male. Sehun was nearly hysterical.

"Kyungsoo! We have to go!" Jongdae called. His voice was full of urgency. Kyungsoo noticed sounds coming from the hallway. His big eyes flitted from Jongdae to Chanyeol to Baekhyun and then the door. Kyungsoo straightened up and grabbed his gun from the holster and pointed it at the door as it burst open and a man appeared there with a gun in his hand pointed straight at them. Kyungsoo was ready, he didn't waste a second and immediately fired a shot without even looking where it had hit the other guy. Maybe it was the gunshot or whatever because when he turned his attention to Chanyeol again, he was awake, his eyes were wide and were looking around him, looking very disoriented as if trying to remember where he was. He looked at Baekhyun and he was stirring too but not yet quite awake. He shook Baekhyun to speed up the waking up process and helped Jongdae haul him up. Baekhyun was slumped against Jongdae, breathing heavily as if the small task of pulling himself upright, on his two feet was too much work.

Sehun had managed to haul Chanyeol up himself. With how large Chanyeol was he doubted anyone but Sehun could withstand the weight.

"Let's go." Kyungsoo said and took the lead with a gun held at the ready, he passed by the guy he had shot who didn't look like he would make it. Kyungsoo was too worried for Baekhyun to worry about much else. He bent down and grabbed the gun that had fallen out of the intruder's reach and pocketed that gun too.

Even though Chanyeol and Baekhyun were awake and walking, it wasn't very fast and they were still being half dragged. This was stupid and unprecedented. They didn’t have any getaway plan and Baekhyun and Chanyeol were not in a state to make their way to the safe house on their own.

"Let's go out the back door." Kyungsoo was improvising as he went, he ran the length of the hallway and went through the door he knew led to the back of the motel. He was almost hit by a car as soon as he stepped out. The car was actually a van and as the window rolled down, for a moment his heart almost failed as he thought they were found. But as he saw who it was, he let his gun down.

"Get in." Said Amber from the driver seat. Everyone had caught up to Kyungsoo now and they scrambled to get in. Kyungsoo ushered Sehun and Chanyeol inside too, helped them settle into a better position and buckled their seat belts. Baekhyun was awake but he felt very disoriented. His head kept spinning and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open for a longer interval. Whenever he opened his eyes he looked like he was going to be sick. Taeyeon who was in the shotgun seat looked back and a look of worry crossed her features.

"What's wrong? What happened to them?" She inquired, frowning, looking from Baekhyun to Chanyeol and back again.

"I don't know," Kyungsoo answered. He was busy probing and prodding all over Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's bodies to make sure they were okay. As a member of SM they all had to undergo months of training from the basic first aid to defense skills and all regardless of what sort of job they were assigned later, there were some skills like basic medical training and self-defense that everyone had to learn.

"What do you mean you don't know--eyes on the road Amber!" Taeyeon shrieked when Amber looked behind her to see what was going on while driving.

"They'll be fine. There seems to be nothing wrong with them." Kyungsoo soo announced everyone breathed a sigh of relief however, Sehun and Jongdae still kept trying to engage Chanyeol and Baekhyun in conversation.

Chanyeol seemed to be doing a lot better. Baekhyun was still not in his senses yet.

"Amber how are you here?" Kyungsoo's voice came out quite hostile, mostly because he was worried and because he hadn’t known how she found them. "Relax Soo." Amber replied form the front seat.

"I tracked you down." She said.

"Track me?! I never left a trace!" Kyungsoo exclaimed.

"Same way Park did." She replied. Kyungsoo's mouth formed an 'O' shape. “I was keeping tabs on anyone trying to get into contact with Baekhyun. Kyungsoo looked at Sehun, his eyes conveyed the warning to Sehun that it had been very foolish of him and it must not happen again.

“I was in contact with Taeyeon as well so I knew of this meeting as well. I spent yesterday arranging a vehicle that can’t be tracked just so you might need a getaway driver.” Amber said and Kyungsoo listened intently.

“I told her you guys had no plans for that and I didn’t mention it to you because I also knew that you guys had no means to make a getaway possible,” Taeyeon explained. “That made her my only option.”

Kyungsoo didn't pay much attention to why Taeyeon didn't tell him all of that. He just turned back to attending Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

"Can you let us off somewhere? I need to take him home. He says he is feeling weak." Sehun asked Kyungsoo politely. Chanyeol was staring out of the car's blackened windows. Eyes half-lidded and face... Kyungsoo couldn't read that face. Chanyeol was alright only weak. Baekhyun was still having trouble even keeping his eyes open, he kept saying he was so dizzy.

"You can come with us to our hiding spot. If you're going to work with us you ought to know where we stay anyway.” Kyungsoo hesitated and then added. “We have to figure out what happened back in the hotel room."

Kyungsoo said then he looked at Sehun's hand on Chanyeol's shoulder.

"Do you still want to help?" Kyungsoo asked.

Sehun nodded. “A promise is a promise.”

"Then come with us, whatever happened to Baekhyun and Chanyeol, it happened to them together, we need to figure out what it was." Jongdae repeated looking back at Sehun.

"Okay." Sehun agreed.

"What did happen?" Taeyeon asked again looking at Baekhyun.

Sehun shook his head. "We don't know."

They were soon at their hiding spot. Amber parked the car far away from the house, so as not to draw much attention to it. Otherwise how could a run-down house with boarded windows have a car?

Sehun supported Chanyeol as he got out of the car. He could now walk on his own but Sehun still kept his arm around him in case he stumbled.

Baekhyun was still leaning heavily on Jongdae as he was guided to the house. Kyungsoo ran up first and opened the door for the others.

"Let them rest on the couch until I get something to eat for them." He said and rushed to the kitchen. Taeyeon followed him to the kitchen to get some water.

Jongdae helped Baekhyun sit down, his legs under him on the couch and head leaning on the back of the sofa. He was sitting sideways. Chanyeol was staring in the distance. There was something on his face. Sehun recognized as an expression he had often seen on Chanyeol when he was drunk or when he talked about his past. He took off his coat and draped it over Chanyeol to keep him warm.

Baekhyun sighed and adjusted his head on the back on the couch, licking his dry lips. Taeyeon offered a glass to Jongdae and one to Sehun for the disoriented males who obviously couldn't hold a glass themselves yet. Chanyeol drowned his water in a moment. However Baekhyun was having none of it. He kept pushing the water away. "No." He shook his head again lightly and then winced as the dizziness got worse.

Jongdae persuaded him to drink a few sips with difficulty.

Not too long after Kyungsoo was setting down a tray of food for Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Followed by Amber who brought a glucose mix. Which they were made to drink by Kyungsoo. Then Kyungsoo helped Baekhyun and Chanyeol into the room. Baekhyun fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Chanyeol on the other hand kept insisting that he was fine and didn't need to get in the same bed as Baekhyun, that the floor was comfy too or that he would be fine on the couch. Kyungsoo's glare shut him up. And very soon, he was asleep too.

* * *

He was being bullied again as he always was, and a guy, senior, ripped his bag and dumped all the contents of it at his feet. His sketchbook fell to the ground, open. Junmyeon, the school student council president was also in the crowd of on-lookers. But he was doing more than just looking unlike everyone else, he was trying to stop the bullies, threatening to tell the principal directly about how they were acting. To which he too got some sniggers. But that did make the bullies leave, Chanyeol was grateful. The crowd immediately started to disperse as their means of entertainment came to an end. Only Junmyeon remained. He crouched on the ground to help Chanyeol pick up his stuff and as he grabbed the sketchbook he saw it. The drawing Chanyeol had made of that strange man.

Junmyeon stared from the drawing to Chanyeol again in amazement. "Who's this?" He asked Chanyeol, being the person he was, Chanyeol didn't bother answering. He just snatched his sketchbook from Junmyeon’s hands and put it in his torn bag and left Junmyeon crouching on the ground.

The next day he found an empty sketchbook, a new one, in his locker waiting for him. He didn't think about who must have left it there, he just took it and started drawing on it. His last sketchbook had ended and he had no allowance money to buy a new one.

It was a whole week later that he realized who gave it to him, but by then he had already used a quarter of it and he couldn't return it. At least that’s what he told himself. He swallowed his self-respect and ego and refused to pay attention to the giver.

It was Junmyeon, he realized it when he showed up on the roof and pulled him from the edge of the roof of their school, as Chanyeol was about to jump off being so frustrated from being bullied and hurt. Suddenly in the midst of the hurricane that seemed to be Chanyeol’s life, one thing was clear and that was Junmyeon’s constant presence in his life for a whole week. Almost like he cared.

From that day on Chanyeol went to the rooftop to draw and Junmyeon followed him to spy on his drawings and to keep him from being rash as Chanyeol gathered much later.

At first Junmyeon tried making conversation but Chanyeol never responded. That didn't make Junmyeon back down. Junmyeon tried on different occasions to make Chanyeol talk and different tactics and topics, everything he could think of.

But Junmyeon was human, he tried and tried hard to communicate with Chanyeol but getting no response from him, he got so frustrated that one day he laughed too with the others as Chanyeol was being picked on extra hard. He tried so hard and he didn't like the way Chanyeol just submitted. So this time he didn't tell the bullies off, he didn't stay to help Chanyeol pick up his stuff, why should he help Chanyeol when he didn’t want to help himself.

What bothered Chanyeol out of all was that Junmyeon didn't follow him to the rooftop. Chanyeol had no idea until then that he was so used to Junmyeon's presence. He was the only reason Chanyeol was alive.

The next day Chanyeol followed Junmyeon everywhere he went. He was always hidden in some corner but he was following him like a little boy would follow their parents. Chanyeol didn’t know if he wanted or not to be noticed. Junmyeon looked behind him many times and Chanyeol hid himself each time, but a part of him wanted to be exposed. He wanted to be found out. He wanted to know if Junmyeon would come back or if he knew that Chanyeol needed him. Or would he even care and just leave as everyone else did.

Right after lunchtime, Chanyeol was one of the last people to go to the class. He had been on the roof to avoid the rush in the hallways and came down when he knew most students would be gone. He was busy trying to shut the zip of his old bag which seemed to be stuck. His eyes found Junmyeon walking down the hall. Chanyeol didn’t have any business where Junmyeon was heading but the locker rooms were the same way and now that the hallways were almost empty, maybe he would speak to Chanyeol if they were secluded.

Chanyeol followed silently and pretended to be busy in one task or the other if he felt other's attention on him until he reached his locker. With his long legs there wasn't much distance left between Junmyeon and himself. He opened his locked and something wet splattered all over his face. Paint. He jerked back, his hands going to his face to protect his eyes. Junmyeon stopped and looked at him. Chanyeol started to search his locker like mad, all thoughts containing Junmyeon forgotten. Soon he had a small piece of fabric in his hand. The cloth was dirty and with so much paint on it it was hard to decipher what color it had originally been. Tears filled his eyes and he rushed past Junmyeon, no longer caring for anything, towards the washroom. 

He wiped tears off of his face with the back of his wrist and went back to scrubbing the fabric clean. He was still in that process when the door to the bathroom opened and Junmyeon came in. He saw Chanyeol, froze for a moment and then turned around to leave.

He was halfway out the door when he stopped once again and turned to face Chanyeol once more. His face was masked with fury and utter disappointment. He took one long step forward raised his finger towards Chanyeol accusingly and spoke. “Why do you live?” His words were loud.

Chanyeol looked at Junmyeon, surprised by this behavior. He had never seen Junmyeon so angry before and needless to say, he knew Junmyeon had many, many reasons to be this angry before.

“I --” Chanyeol was at a loss for words. Junmyeon shook his head and let his arm fall to his side.

“There is no use!” He exclaimed. He was so angry that spit flew out of his mouth as he spoke. “No use!” he repeated.

“What--”

“Answer me Chanyeol! Why do you live?” Junmyeon asked again. He really did want an answer. Chanyeol did not speak.

“Why.” He said his voice was lighter now. When Chanyeol did not reply, he pressed again “WHY!?” he knew he had gotten through when Chanyeol fisted his hands and shouted. “Just because! It should be none of your concern!”

“But it is!”

“Why?! Huh? You laugh at me like everyone else why should you care? No one else cares then why should I treat you like you’re special?” Chanyeol yelled in one breath, his voice was hoarse and uneven.

“I can’t believe you!” Junmyeon gave a heartless chuckle. “You are so convinced that everyone is so rotten that you refuse to believe in actual help.”

“And what reason did I ever have to believe otherwise!” Chanyeol bellowed. Junmyeon went quiet.

“Because some people care about this,” Junmyeon gestured to Chanyeol. “This never should have happened. You shouldn’t have to face this.”

“Why do you care anyway?” Chanyeol said and this time, his voice was not loud. It was fragile.

“Because I should. Everyone should.” Junmyeon looked into Chanyeol’s eyes that were filled with tears again. He could see the tremors running through Chanyeol’s body.

“Why do you live?” He repeated, this time finding his own voice shaking too.

Chanyeol grasped his head in his hands and his legs buckled under him as he fell on his knees.

“I don't know.” He admitted. He felt so lost all of a sudden. His eyes were wild and moved from here to there as if in a desperate search for something. “I don’t know.” he repeated and then it started like a mantra that he kept on repeating, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.” Junmyeon got down on his knees in front of Chanyeol and grasped his shoulders in his hands firmly and shook him. “Look at me.” Chanyeol tried to get out of his hold weakly. Junmyeon shook him again. “Look at me!” Chanyeol looked up through wet eyelashes.

“This is what I am saying.” Junmyeon started to explain gently. “Take some control of your life! If you keep on submitting the paintbrush to everyone who tries to take it from you you will never be satisfied with the portrait. You need to figure out why you live because the way you're living is not really living.”

Chanyeol’s head was still hanging low as he stared at Junmyeon through his bangs.

“So I ask you again, why do you live?” He said each word carefully as if talking to a child. Chanyeol didn’t talk but he kept eye contact and nodded. Suho patted his shoulders.

“Fight back.” Chanyeol nodded again. He allowed his head to fall on Junmyeon’s shoulder. They didn’t move for a long time. Junmyeon allowed Chanyeol to cry as long as he had wanted.

The next day, when Chanyeol saw a punch coming, he ducked and struck back. He did end up with a nosebleed but so did his bully.

And for the first time in a long time it felt good.

* * *

Amber and Taeyeon were sitting on one of the sofa's and Jongdae was sitting across from them, Kyungsoo sat down beside Jongdae's legs on the rug and Sehun took a seat on the stool near it.

"What happened to them?" Amber asked. "What aren't you telling us?"

"I don't know. They were fine one moment and the next they were gone." Kyungsoo answered, he exchanged gaze with Jongdae who nodded in affirmation.

"What do you mean gone?" Inquired Taeyeon.

"Well. At the same time! Gone!" Explained Sehun very unhelpfully

Taeyeon and Amber had a skeptical and confused face.

"And what the hell does that mean?" Amber snapped and Sehun jumped at her sudden loudness.

"It really happened! It was like, they touched each other and bam." Jongdae explained furthermore, unhelpfully.

"Well if I look at the situation, I haven't seen people vanish into thin air like that, ever." Kyungsoo began. "Nor has Baekhyun ever passed out like that before, he is a perfectly healthy guy." Kyungsoo pondered and then muttered. "I didn't work him hard just to pass out after such little stress and excursion."

"Vanish into thin what?" Amber directed the question at Kyungsoo.

"Would you guys explain what went on in there? Or I'm not taking the lookout duty next time." Taeyeon deadpanned.

"You won't believe us." Sehun said quietly. His eyes were wide and wild.

"Humor us." Taeyeon challenged.

"Sehun is right but you asked for it. Honestly I don't even know how I should be reacting after that, it's crazy." Kyungsoo ran a hand through his hair and noticed Sehun leaning back to peer into the room at the sleeping boys as if to confirm they were still there.

"They were alright before, then Baekhyun was going to punch Sehun," Sehun's eyes widened even more at that. "For his stupidity, but he might not have known." Kyungsoo continued, and he heard Sehun mumble a small 'sorry'. "Chanyeol tried to stop him. He touched Baekhyun's hand." Kyungsoo said slowly meeting Jongdae's eyes who had a skeptical expression on his face but was nodding. "You know what? You tell the rest. It is so absurd!" Kyungsoo blurted.

"What? You were stating it right." Jongdae whined. "I'm not saying it's weird shit!"

"Baekhyun hyung and Chanyeol hyung touched hands and they vanished into thin air." Sehun blurted. He looked at Jongdae and Kyungsoo. "It's not that hard to say, it's hard for them to believe." He jerked his head towards the girls.

"You're bluffing us." Taeyeon got to her feet angrily.

"We're not!" Jongdae pressed loudly. Before Taeyeon could respond he turned to Sehun. "Has Chanyeol ever passed out like that?"

"Well, he never vanished." he took a minute to think it through. "Only once or twice and that was more due to the situation than anything." He explained. "Otherwise he's healthy and all."

"What situation?" Kyungsoo asked suddenly. Sehun looked at him with a lost expression and then slowly replied.

"I can't tell you but it wasn't related to any sickness or stuff."

"Hey that's not fair! You can't set a rule and then break it yourself." Kyungsoo cautioned

"Exactly you're the one who said no secrets." Jongdae added. Sehun raised his hands in defeat and also to make the other two shut up.

"I get it. But it's not my story to tell. It's about his past and as I said unrelated so it's okay to not tell, however, if there is something about your mess, we'll gladly divulge it to you." He made clear.

"Guys! They vanished! We're not lunatics! Either be honest or we're leaving. I thought you had something serious going on here but you're all still playing your little games." Amber started shouting to stop the bickering.

"We're not lying!" Sehun screamed back.

"They did vanish." Jongdae began. "And only God knows what really happened but I know that this was going to be one step closer for me to Find Minseok, get our child and get out of here but this weird shit has hit the fan and you're accusing us of lying. Why would I ever joke about something that has Minseok's life at stake."

"What hyung said!" Sehun added pointing at Jongdae.

Amber and Taeyeon didn't talk after that.

"We're just as confused as you are. The only difference is that we saw it happen." Kyungsoo said softly. "Now you know how hard it is to tell someone."

Jongdae slapped his thighs and stood up. "I'm going to lay down for a while, I can't handle this." He left the living room to go upstairs.

"I'm really worried about them, I wish Lay was here." Taeyeon said with a softer voice than what she was using before.

"You did not remember his name because Jongdae said he's gonna Lay down right?" Amber asked and Kyungsoo raised his eyebrow at her question. Taeyeon offered a guilty expression in return.

"I'm high on absurd. I'll prepare something for dinner." Amber announced and left for the kitchen.

"Stop her before she burns your kitchen." Taeyeon hinted at Kyungsoo. His eyes widened in horror and he raced after her.

"Don't stress too much. We'll discuss this mess later we're all worried here. Let's wait for the boys to wake up first then we can ask them okay?" She said to Sehun politely. "You should rest too. And stay as long as you need."

"I really don't want to burden you." He said.

"Its no drag. Come on. It's stressful for all of us. Let's figure out what's wring with Baekhyun and Chanyeol first."

Sehun nodded.

"Health and safety before everything else." She commented.

Sehun gave a grateful smile. "Thank you."


	8. History

****

**CHAPTER 8: HISTORY**

Baekhyun and Chanyeol slept all through the night's tender hours and woke up really early. They were famished by that time and since Baekhyun didn't know how to cook anything except instant noodles, Chanyeol took it upon himself to serve a mild but healthy breakfast for the two of them at 5 o'clock in the morning. They sat in the room and ate there because the couch was busy, Sehun was sprawled on and Kyungsoo was sleeping on the other one. They didn't want to disturb them this early in the morning so they stayed in the room.

"How old are you?" Chanyeol asked just to kill the overbearing silence.

Baekhyun looked up from the papers he was writing on and paused for a moment processing the question, "26." He answered shortly.

"Good I'm 24."

"You talk too much." Baekhyun responded and went back to the papers.

"What are you writing?" Chanyeol asked as he stared intently at Baekhyun’s hand moving on paper.

"Ways to shut people up." He retorted without looking at Chanyeol.

"You're being mean. How will we work together if you're this mean?" Chanyeol complained.

Baekhyun put his pen down and looked up at Chanyeol. "Your friend is too careless. I don't know if I can afford such mistakes."

Chanyeol sighed and looked down for a moment before he spoke. "He just made a mistake. He's quite young and sometimes gets hasty. But he isn't irresponsible."

"Well his mistake almost cost us our lives." Baekhyun shot back.

"Exactly... Our lives. Baekhyun you weren't alone there.nWe have stakes here as well.” Chanyeol said, feeling a little wounded.

"No,” Baekhyun agreed, “but there are people who need me to help them. It's not just me if I lose, they lose their chance too." he looked up at Chanyeol briefly before going back to writing, by now he had lost his train of thought and he spun the pencil between his fingers trying to get his mind straight.

"Fine, I never wanted to work with you anyway." Chanyeol sat up straighter with crossed legs.

"Oh you're not going anywhere... Unfortunately I don't have any choice but to work with you and your friend." Baekhyun stated with an unimpressed face.

"His name is Sehun and you're making me like you less and less." Chanyeol said with a raised eyebrow.

"Why's that?" Chanyeol narrowed his eyes and waved his hands in the air as he struggled to find words. "You're so..." He pursed his lips.

"I'm what?" Baekhyun focused on the title that Chanyeol was going to give him more than he liked. It bothered him.

"Uptight!" Chanyeol finished with a slap to his thigh for emphasis.

"Careful your limbs could decapitate someone." Baekhyun shot back.

"Oh my god you guys bicker too much!" They both turned their heads when they heard the comment. Kyungsoo and Sehun were standing in the large doorway of the room.

Chanyeol put his hands on his lap and quietly rocked back and forth trying to regain his innocent posture.

"Quit it. Don't give me a headache so early in the morning." Kyungsoo said. "I'm going back to sleep." He turned around to go back to the couch.

"Wait you're not gonna ask me if I am okay?" Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and turned around.

"Hyung." Sehun croaked. His voice was heavy from sleeping. "With a mouth that runs _that_ fast how can you not be okay?" Kyungsoo nodded.

"I passed out!" Baekhyun whined and Chanyeol agreed.

"Pass out?" Kyungsoo rubbed his eyes in confusion. He was too sleepy. "Alright it can wait till we wake up. We need to discuss this episode of yours with everyone else present." He said. He motioned for Sehun to go back and sleep.

"Why? Why discuss it." Baekhyun asked as he was about to leave.

"Can it wait Baek. I'm sleepy. Did you two eat something?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Aww you do care." Baekhyun cooed. "Yeah I made breakfast."

"My kitchen!" Kyungsoo exclaimed and looked towards the kitchen window at the same time Chanyeol said to Baekhyun, "Shut up, I cooked."

"Huh?" Kyungsoo said stupidly.

"I can cook. Your kitchen is fine. Get some rest." Chanyeol elaborated.

"Finally, at least someone had manners." He gave Baekhyun a glare, Chanyeol smirked.

"That was some deep concern I felt there." Chanyeol said, still staring at the spot Kyungsoo had stood on.

"Why did I end up in the same room as you?" Baekhyun mumbled as he stared down at his papers once more.

"So as I was saying... My point is that Sehun would learn how to be cautious from now on. He hasn't had much experience." Chanyeol went back to their original topic.

"It's not called experience yeol, it's common sense."

"Not everyone is a born secret agent like you Byun"

"Whatever." Baekhyun dismissed.

"SHUT UP." Kyungsoo's voice rang out again. This time they did.

***

A couple of hours later during which Chanyeol was a constant pain in Baekhyun's ass, Baekhyun finally let out a sigh of relief as everyone else started to wake up one by one and Chanyeol found someone else to bug. Kyungsoo, then Amber, then Jongdae and Taeyeon and finally Sehun all got up. Jongdae rushed to Baekhyun's side immediately when he saw Baekhyun awake. Baekhyun took a moment to turn from a mean ass to a big spoiled baby as Jongdae asked him how he felt and if he was okay now. He gave a sidelong glare to Kyungsoo that said 'this is what you call a real friend'. Baekhyun's relief was short-lived because when he followed Jongdae, Kyungsoo and Sehun into the kitchen he was kicked out and they even locked the door. He could hear them talking in a hushed tone but he never caught a word of what was actually being said. Chanyeol came back to Baekhyun and mentioned how he had noticed weird glares that he had been getting from the other 5 people in the house since the day started.

They sat together for breakfast, lunch in Chanyeol and Baekhyun's cases. All the while Baekhyun explained the situation he was in from the start, everything that they couldn't talk about the day before, all about his assignment and SM's fall. Chanyeol and Sehun promised to help them as they now understood the situation better. It was still going to be a bumpy ride but Chanyeol felt like he could take it on, and now, he really was genuinely worried for Sehun. Kyungsoo also gave them a go over on the basic precautions they needed to take and he locked their phones against any sort of invasion, hacking or tracking.

Chanyeol wanted to leave after that. He kept insisting that he had imposed a lot already. Sehun gave a sidelong glance to Kyungsoo and Jongdae, all three of them looked at each other. And so did the girls. That snapped Baekhyun and Chanyeol. They both spoke at the same time.

"What the hell is wrong with you all!" Said Baekhyun. "You know we can feel your glares cutting us in half we're not morons." Came out of Chanyeol.

"Alright." Kyungsoo nodded and looked at Sehun. "Sehun." He said his name and Chanyeol could tell it was a signal.

"Hyung." Sehun gave Chanyeol the same glare and he hooked his arm with Chanyeol's and heaved him up. "Let's go." He said shortly as he pulled him away.

"What? Where? Why? Home? Sehun!" Chanyeol stuttered but Sehun hauled him towards the room on the second floor.

Baekhyun frowned and raised his arms as he saw Kyungsoo and Jongdae also standing up. "I'm utterly and officially creeped out." He said to them but let them do the same to him as Sehun had done to Chanyeol.

Baekhyun was made to sit on the bed as Jongdae and Kyungsoo shut the door behind them Taeyeon and Amber had also followed them inside.

"Alright. Explain yourself." Jongdae said. And as Baekhyun thought about what he was being held accountable for, everyone stood quietly and expectantly.

"I-" Baekhyun searched his mind for something and then it clicked. "Oh I see!" He slapped his forehead. "Look guys I did not mean to actually hit Sehun I was just trying to be intimida-." He explained.

"That's not it." Jongdae cut him off. Amber and Taeyeon shook their heads but didn't intervene.

"Baekhyun where did you and Chanyeol go?" Kyungsoo asked cautiously.

"We've been here all morning, I don't understand." Baekhyun was genuinely confused and creeped out now. His mind screamed danger ahead at him and he shifted a little to make himself ready for anything should it come.

"Not today." Kyungsoo suspected something since the morning and he decided to straight-up ask Baekhyun about it. "Baekhyun you don't know?"

"Know what?! Could you cut the crap and tell me what the hell are you all on about because it's pissing me off." Baekhyun finally snapped at them. "You're glaring is making me feel like I'm the one involved in human trafficking and screw you for that."

"Okay wait." Jongdae held up his hands as he looked at Kyungsoo desperately.

"He won't believe us." He said to Kyungsoo.

"I know," Kyungsoo replied.

Baekhyun looked from one to the other.

"Baekhyun. Here is the deal." Kyungsoo began carefully. "I promise to you that everything that we are going to say is the truth and we're not crazy and we are definitely not lying." He looked at Jongdae once more who nodded to continue. "We promise!" He said again "Now what do you remember from yesterday?" Kyungsoo asked. "I mean when you and Chanyeol passed out."

Baekhyun searched his mind, still frowning. "Nothing, I was gonna ask you that, why did I pass out? And what does Chanyeol have to do with it?"

Jongdae sighed. Baekhyun remembered nothing.

"It's gonna be harder than we thought." Kyungsoo mumbled. He looked at their spectators and then back at Baekhyun. Jongdae was still standing.

"Baekhyun, it's gonna sound really weird and please believe us. Yesterday when you were going to almost hit Sehun, do you remember that Chanyeol grabbed your hand to protect Sehun?" Baekhyun frowned in concentration then nodded. "Well the moment you two touched, you both kind of vanished from the room for a moment or two only but we couldn't find you anywhere and then just like you guys vanished, you reappeared and passed out, both of you." Kyungsoo revealed, his face full of anticipation.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Baekhyun exclaimed. "I can't believe this."

"We know how absurd it sounds. But in the middle of such a hard situation, I won't joke like this. You know that. I'll never lie about something like this." Kyungsoo tried to reason. "We just want to know what happened when Chanyeol grabbed you."

"I don't know, I only remember a sudden blackness and then falling." Baekhyun frowned. "Then I woke up this morning."

"Okay thanks Baek. Please don't take this to heart man, we just told you what we saw." They said but Baekhyun just stood up and left the room, clearly upset and left the house. Jongdae wanted to caution Baekhyun to stay safe but at this point Baekhyun knew how to protect himself.

"This got us nowhere." Jongdae commented.

"Let's hope Sehun has some luck."

Just then they heard another door slam and then footsteps, Kyungsoo looked into the lounge to see Chanyeol running out of the house and Sehun following after him, calling his name.

"Let them go for a while. They'll be fine." Kyungsoo told Sehun who was really distraught.

"No luck?" Jongdae asked and Sehun looked at the floor and shook his head.

"It's okay. At least you tried."

***

Chanyeol had followed Sehun upstairs and let him lead them into an empty room and shut the door.

"What is this about?" He asked.

"Hyung, you and Baekhyun passed out yesterday." Sehun said. "What happened.?

Chanyeol thought for a moment. "I don't know. I mean, I passed out so all I remember is falling and then nothing."

"Hyung. You know I don't lie to you right?"

"Sehunnie, I don't think anyone has ever believed anything that came out of your mouth for a really long time now." Sehun waved his hand in the air to dismiss it.

"Not the point. I won't joke or lie now. Yesterday you got in between me and Baekhyun hyung and then you grabbed his hand and you both disappeared from the room. What did you see then?" Sehun put it out bluntly.

Chanyeol became uneasy. "What?! I didn't see anything. And you're spewing nonsense."

"You are lying hyung. You and Baekhyun hyung passed out as soon as you appeared but for a few moments you both weren't there. Jongdae and Kyungsoo hyung agree with me. If I were alone, I'd run to the doctor first thing but we all saw it happen so there is no room for lies. Now tell me what happened what did you see?"

"Nothing!" Chanyeol insisted. "Why are you being like this? I'm the hyung here." Chanyeol stood up.

"Oh sit your ass down Hyung." Sehun said. "And answer the question."

"I did answer it! I saw nothing."

"Lies!"

"Sehun!"

"Hyung! Did you or did you not see something?"

"I-I did but that doesn't mean I believe your nonsense." Chanyeol shot back.

"What did you see?" Sehun pressed.

"I am not telling you, it's not related to anything."

"Except for the fact that knowing all details of yesterday could help us figure out why it affected your health so much. Yeah." Sehun retorted. "I demand to know."

"It had to do with my past!" Chanyeol shouted. "Happy now?" He stood up and made for the door.

"Hyung, you can let yourself be insecure like this. It's time to let go and shed some of the burdens."

"Yeah. It is time. But you keep reminding me of it." Chanyeol shot back. "I don't care what happened yesterday. It could have been a one-time thing and I suggest you guys get yourselves checked because you're talking impossible."

"Alright, I get talking about your past hurts but you can't use me as a punching bag every time you're upset. I'm just concerned for you!" Sehun got angry.

"No one asked you for it." Chanyeol was ready to open the door but Sehun blocked him.

"Hyung why do you do this? Why do you push people away!?" Chanyeol took a hold of Sehun's shoulder and dragged him aside to clear the door. "Like this." Chanyeol said coldly then he bolted down the stairs and ran out the front door. He felt like if he stayed there any longer he'd pass out again. He slammed the door behind him and ran.

* * *

Chanyeol did not know how he made it so far. There were drops of blood on the ground. He was in a dirty school toilet looking in the cracked mirror seeing as his face was slashed by the broken mirror. As he looked on he imagined the slash moving, moving and moving until it was on his neck as if his neck had been severed and a spray of blood flew out from the mirror and on to his face.

Chanyeol jerked away from the mirror, shaken out of his hallucination by the horror of the image. True, his life was horrible, but he didn't want to die now that he had someone who noticed him.

His nosebleed was soothed, he looked at the broken wristwatch on his wrist. He had already missed half of his class and going now would only prompt more subordination and he was in no mood to listen to that. Especially the fact that he had already been bullied once that day. His daily quota was complete. But that didn't mean he won't be picked on again. He gathered his bag in his arms and exited the toilet, and headed towards the stairs to the roof.

He ignored the pushes he received from the other students and kept pursuing his route to the roof. Soon after 3 flights of stairs he was standing behind the locked door that led out to the open roof. Chanyeol took a pair of metal chopsticks out of his bag and stuck them in the big old rusty lock. He was so familiar with its insides now, he knew where exactly to prod to get the lock to open. Soon enough the heavy lock opened and slid down to the ground with the chains that held the door locked. He went towards the south side, feeling the soft breeze on his face. The one that faced outside the school grounds, the one with no walls. He sat down with his legs dangling over the edge of the school building and opened his bag to fish out a sketchbook. He flipped through the pages, most of the pages featured the same man, his face was a little blurry looking as if looking at someone through the fog but otherwise he was recognizable and the drawing was quite good.

Chanyeol took out a small pencil and started drawing. The same man, same pose, same foggy style. Chanyeol had seen him when he was only 6 or 7 years old. He wasn't sure now. It had been so long and he only remembered the vague image he was used to drawing. He always went there to draw, the same image, in hopes of recalling the full face and clearer features of the man but it was a failure each time.

There was also one more thing he was used to. Chanyeol started to mumble a countdown. "10, 9, 8..." He kept on drawing as he counted. "3, 2, 1." He finished. But nothing happened... Chanyeol waited a few heartbeats then looked behind him, drawing forgotten. Then a creaking noise came from the door and it slid open. Chanyeol instantly started paying extra attention to his sketchbook again, pretending that this wasn't a routine. Junmyeon appeared. He was truly a model for the school. He was confident and good looking. He studied hard and well and took part in extracurricular activities as well. He was an all in one guy from their school with a shiny background. Everyone knew he belonged to a well off family, not that Chanyeol cared.

Chanyeol kept on drawing. He had finished drawing the eyes and nose and was now rendering the lips. Chanyeol didn't look back but he was sure of the gaze he felt burning into the back of his skull. Though Junmyeon tried to look like he had no interest in Chanyeol, he had been caught several times stealing glances.

After everything that Junmyeon had done for Chanyeol a few months ago, He hadn’t started conversing with Junmyeon, nor did Junmyeon ever try again much to make conversation. His last year started and he was always too busy. But after everything that went on between them, they were now as close to being friends as they could be. And gradually Chanyeol realized he had started to kind of appreciate Junmyeon's silent presence on the roof.

However today felt different. Chanyeol was right because Junmyeon talked and approached. Chanyeol heard a rustle and felt him kneel beside him, Chanyeol did not look at him.

"It was nice spending time with you Chanyeol. You are Stronger than you know Chanyeol, own your life." He heard Junmyeon say. Then Chanyeol felt him leave, but he did not turn around to see him go. It was his last day anyway. Junmyeon was going to leave and he would not get involved more than he already was. This was the only goodbye he would allow himself. He stopped drawing and held his breath until he felt him go through the door then looked behind.

He saw that it was a picture, picked it up and gasped when he took it in. It was a picture of Junmyeon with the guy Chanyeol drew. Chanyeol stared at the door and then pursed his lips. Chanyeol had heard that morning that today was the last day for the Seniors and after that they would be freed from the school for pre-exam holidays and would return a week later for their finals and their session would be completed.

He gasped when he saw the people in it. There were two people in the picture, one of them was Junmyeon and the other was the same guy that Chanyeol drew holding a child Junmyeon's hand. Chanyeol was so surprised that his mouth hung open like a fish and he kept looking from the picture to the door from where Junmyeon had vanished. He turned the picture and in old ink there was written, "beloved dad". That man was Junmyeon's father?!

Chanyeol stood up more surprised than before. not only they knew each other but they were related! Chanyeol honestly didn't know how to feel about that. He stood there and examined the picture more closely and noticed how Junmyeon seemed like something outside the frame of the picture had distracted him so his smile had fallen a little. but his father had a beautiful glowing smile on his face. Jonmyeon was also really young in the picture, he was around 10 years old Chanyeol could not tell.

Chanyeol was really confused and surprised. one of the two people who had ever saved his life. He looked on the back of the old photo again and saw a message scrawled there in a blue ball pen ink in neat letters.

" i thought long and hard about leaving this picture with you. I am not sure what connections you had with him but I am willing to wait for you to tell me. now you know what makes me different and why I wanted to help you. seems like I am selfish too". And beneath it was a phone number. there was also a postscript note, "in case you ever feel like forgiving me."

Chanyeol crouched down and picked up his sketchbook and then moved to a better spot than the edge of the roof and started to draw again.

It was nearing the end of the day and by the time he knew the classes for the Seniors would be over, he kept looking at the school gate each time he heard it open to see if it was Junmyeon leaving. He took hours and hours to draw what he wanted, erasing and discarding some drafts and then finally settling on one and giving it his all. He heard a bell and then the door of the school opening. He looked at his watch to confirm three hours had passed since he started drawing. He looked at the sketch and deemed it enough. He looked down from the roof again, this time he spotted Junmyeon leaving the school perimeter with his friends. Chanyeol hurriedly threw his pencils and erasers in his bag and raced down the stairs. He bumped into people but he didn't care. By the time he made his way through the crowd, Junmyeon had vanished. He exited the ground and through the main door and onto the road. He looked left and right thankfully spotting Junmyeon heading right and followed at a running pace. Junmyeon and his friends were getting into one of their cars before Junmyeon could get away Chanyeol called.

"Hyung!" Junmyeon was taken by surprise by Chanyeol's appearance. He looked at Chanyeol then said something to his friends who got into the car and left as Junmyeon came to Chanyeol.

"Can we talk?" Chanyeol asked and Junmyeon nodded.

They moved to Cafe Universe, a nearby cafe, and settled in a booth. Junmyeon ordered for them and then they tried not to make eye contact. It was their first encounter like this and it was awkward. However Chanyeol didn't regret anything. He opened his sketchbook and ripped out the most recent drawing he'd spent three hours making, and slid it across the table towards Junmyeon.

"I made this for you." Junmyeon's mouth dropped open when he saw the sketch. He immediately grabbed the paper and looked at it. Chanyeol saw his face change and his eyes become vulnerable. He saw as they slowly filled and tears slid down his cheeks.

"Chanyeol I--" he struggled to find the right words. "Thank you." He said pathetically and sniffed. He was lost in the storks of the drawing. It was a drawing of two people, much like the photo Junmyeon had given Chanyeol earlier that featured Junmyeon and his father. But instead of a distracted Junmyeon, the drawing featured an adult one, who had a huge smile on his face similar to his father's. A picture that was meant to be but was never captured and now Chanyeol had recreated Junmyeon's favorite picture of his father but only more perfect, that reminded Junmyeon who his father really was and how similar he was to him. He had never gotten to get to know him well.

"I think I should tell you how I know him." Chanyeol said and then he explained how there was once a boy, a 6 or 7-year-old boy who had crawled to save his own life and was saved by a man who had taken him to hospital. But that story ended on a disappointing note because when Chanyeol had woken up there was no sign of his savior. Chanyeol had expected at least some sort of contact from him.

But the next part of the story was even more heart-shattering. Junmyeon took out an old diary from his bag and slid it across the table towards Chanyeol, at an entry from 9 years ago.

Chanyeol read it and by the time he finished, he was crying too. Chanyeol couldn't contain all the feelings in his heart anymore, he sobbed.

The entry was from the same day that the man. Junmyeon’s father was the one who had saved little Chanyeol. He had written it while he was waiting for Chanyeol to wake up and it explained how the man was really empathetic about the situation of people in Chanyeol's shoes. Who had nowhere to go. Little children who lose their innocence way too soon. And he finished the entry saying that he was going to most probably adopt Chanyeol.

Chanyeol looked at Junmyeon through tears and a breaking heart to find the other man no better.

"That day..." Junmyeon began but was cut off by a hiccup. "That day he was supposed to pick me up from school and he was late while he took you to the hospital. His son took an unfortunate bus. He got a call as he was writing that. It told him that a bus with his son in it was in an accident and that his son was in another hospital. He left in a hurry and told the Hospital to call him about you. He was going to his son when his car was hit by a truck. He passed away on the spot." Junmyeon finished. It was a really hard pill to swallow. Chanyeol gasped for breath. How bad could things be? And that was when he started to feel dizzy. The life he could have had. He stood up. "Ba-Bathroom." He managed to say and bolted. As soon as he locked the cubicle behind him, he took his head in his hands. That man died because he took a detour for Chanyeol. Chanyeol was just a lump of bad luck. His mind was reeling. He couldn't stop the headache growing there and just when he thought he could take no more, he passed out.

Junmyeon ran after Chanyeol. He saw him go into the bathroom and looked around two cubicles were locked, one of them opened a while later and a grumpy looking man came out, so Junmyeon called Chanyeol's name when there was no response, he looked in the cubicle and he was surprised to find no one there. But that was impossible, he had seen Chanyeol come here and Junmyeon had been so hot on his tail that it was impossible for Chanyeol to escape via the bathroom. Not to mention that there was no window or exhaust hole Chanyeol could climb out through.

Junmyeon was going back to the booth when he heard a thud and hurried to investigate and he saw Chanyeol in the only locked stall that he had checked before and had found nothing in, slumped against the wall. He had checked not five minutes ago there was no one there and now so suddenly. Junmyeon shook himself out of his horror and called the staff to open the door. As soon as Chanyeol was out, he was taken to a hospital, that was when Junmyeon found himself on the same spot his father had stood. He realized once again how much Chanyeol had faced in life and promised himself that he would never abandon this kid.

* * *

Chanyeol ran out of the safe house and into the forest towards thicker trees and greener ground. He heard a shout and followed the sound. He found Baekhyun clutching his hand, his knuckles were red and bruised.

"Same bullshit?" Baekhyun asked as he saw Chanyeol approach.

"Pretty much." Chanyeol replied.

"Come here." He called Baekhyun over and led him to a clear water pond nearby. He took a few bandaids from his wallet he kept aside from a medical box in his van, because he was clumsy and often needed them. He tore a part of his shirt, wet it in the pond and cleaned Baekhyun's knuckle as they sat together on the ground. Then took the bandaids and with the tenderness that Baekhyun didn't think it was possible from his big hands, he applied bandaids on the places his skin was torn.

"The tree didn't do anything." Chanyeol commented so softly that Baekhyun almost mistook it for the rustle of the trees. "Thank you." Baekhyun replied just as softly.

They sat there for a while longer, talking about nothing at all.

"Should we go back now?" Chanyeol suggested. "We're so exposed here."

"You're right." Baekhyun agreed. Chanyeol stood up first and then offered Baekhyun a hand. Baekhyun took it but Chanyeol almost fell while he pulled Baekhyun up. "Do you eat rocks?" Chanyeol panted. "Don't call me fat. You're fat." Baekhyun retorted and it made Chanyeol laugh.

"I'll leave now with Sehun, we have imposed much already and I am not staying to hear any more 'discussions'." Chanyeol emphasized making quotation marks with his fingers in the air.

"Lucky, at least you can escape. Those two are gonna eat through the sanity I have left." Baekhyun felt pathetic. He wanted to leave too. He was a free bird, he had never been used to being caged like this. He feared the free spirit inside of him would tear him apart.

Chanyeol gave Baekhyun a sympathetic look, genuinely feeling bad for the other male and he had this strange urge to do something about things so that Baekhyun could walk out into the open air as he wanted. As soon as they reached the house Chanyeol didn't even enter, saying that he was already late for work and that he had only taken half day off of work for himself and Sehun and with that he dragged Sehun with him.

They didn't talk much while they rode the bus to Cafe Universe. "I'm sorry Sehunnie." Chanyeol said as they walked beside each other on the sidewalk. He felt so bad for being rude to Sehun. He was like a little brother to Chanyeol and he just wanted now to hug Sehun, who he could tell was really upset.

He poked Sehun's side with a finger lightly. "Ya! Notice me." He said. Sehun looked at Chanyeol from the corner of his eyes but didn't speak. Chanyeol huffed and poked Sehun again. "Sehunnie! Hyung's sorry." He repeated. "Hyung will buy you bubble tea." Sehun's ears visibly perked up at this. He stopped walking. "I'm gonna hold you to that." He said. "But hyung, you know what hurts the most is you thinking that I would lie in a situation like that."

Chanyeol blinked for a long while. "Not again Sehun. Look I trust you but you can’t expect me to believe that."

"You still don't believe me Hyung, what is even the point?” Sehun got sad. “I can get my own bubble tea." Sehun started walking again.

"Sehun you can't expect me to believe that - that -- whatever that is, because no one will ever believe anything like that." Chanyeol said, keeping up easily with Sehun's fast and long pace.

"Hyung you think everyone in this world is out to get you or to hurt you but that's not the case, the people who love you, who care for you, it’s you yourself who's getting rid of them," Sehun said seriously. "Hyung we can only try so much but if you don't want to be pulled out of the ditch we are eventually going to get tired of pulling. We might not have strength left to pull you out as hard." With that Sehun left a shocked Chanyeol standing on the sidewalk and walked away.

***

Baekhyun had given Kyungsoo and Jongdae such a cold glare that they didn't talk about the whole hotel thing again. Taeyeon came out of the room not long after Chanyeol had left carrying something in her hands.

"Who's wallet is it?" Taeyeon asked. Baekhyun extended his arm to accept the wallet.

"None of us have one so it must belong to Chanyeol or Sehun." Amber shrugged.

Baekhyun opened it to confirm the possession, there would be some sort of identity in here. He thought as he examined it and found an ID card, Park Chanyeol. There was also a picture in the wallet. The photo was old and withered but people in it were still recognizable. He recognized one as a younger version of Junmyeon, both from features and because he had seen Junmyeon’s childhood photos before. The man beside him must be Junmyeon's father who wasn't in this world anymore.

Wait. That was impossible. Baekhyun had seen him somewhere, in the past couple of days, Baekhyun couldn't pinpoint where but he had seen him before.

"Baekhyun?" He heard a voice from a distance. "What is it?" He must have shown signs of distress. He turned the wallet towards Jongdae and Kyungsoo showing them the picture.

"Have you seen this guy around these days?" He asked. He felt weird, something he never felt before, he had always been good at recalling memories but this time, he could not do it no matter how hard he thought.

"No. Why Baekhyun who is he?" He heard again but he couldn't decipher who had said it.

"What happened when I vanished yesterday?" Baekhyun asked and looked up expectantly at Jongdae and Kyungsoo.

"N-nothing, we don't know. That's what we were asking you. Baek where is this coming from?" Kyungsoo asked him, frowning in concern. Maybe there was a little fear there too, for his friend. Baekhyun shook his head and frowned, trying to remember hard, standing up even to shake his brain a little.

He remembered being at a nice cozy house and he had seen his friends there.

But they weren't his friends, he knew Sehun in real life but that wasn't Baekhyun's friend. And Suho was there too. What the hell was going on? There were two faceless people that he didn’t know at all. Baekhyun stood up and started pacing, his mind running in wild circles as he tried to catch any hint as to why he could suddenly remember these details.

"This doesn't make sense." He mumbled to himself. By now Kyungsoo and Jongdae were standing up too, looking at him with wide eyes as if he was a walking time bomb. Baekhyun's heart beat fast in his chest. Everything was really blurry but so clear at the same time.

Then Baekhyun remembered. He remembered feeling angry and advancing on Sehun, he remembered Chanyeol blocking him and grabbing his hand, he remembered the electric shock that went through him. He remembered feeling like every nerve had suddenly detached from his brain. He remembered Chanyeol entering the house and everyone greeting him there, Baekhyun himself wasn't even seen by anyone there. Baekhyun gasped and his hands shot towards his temple. He felt dizzy with too much information. He had seen something when he had passed out and this was what he had seen. He had seen Chanyeol's life! How he had lived in that cozy house sheltered by Junmyeon and his father. But one thing was weird, Junmyeon was older, and his father was still alive. While Baekhyun remembered specifically that Junmyeon's father had passed away when he was only 9.

"It doesn't make sense!" He exclaimed and swayed his arms falling to his side. Jongdae and Amber reached out to steady him but he was fine. His dizziness went away in a flash. He looked at Jongdae and Kyungsoo and blinked hard to clear his head.

"I saw something." He admitted, his eyes flicked from here to there in desperate search of something. "I saw something. But I need to be sure." He repeated. His chest was heavy, his shoulders drooped as if he was carrying a burden.

"I'm going to see Chanyeol." He said shortly and moved towards the door.

"No! Wait." Kyungsoo said. "You cannot go out into the daylight." Baekhyun looked at him, his gaze was firm but his eyes were empty, Kyungsoo suspected if Baekhyun was in some sort of a daze. He slowly reached out his hand to Baekhyun's on the doorknob and gently removed it, guiding it back to Baekhyun's side. Jongdae came over to assist and he took a hold of Baekhyun's shoulders and led him towards the couch.

But Baekhyun started to protest. I have to go see him. He tried to turn around but Jongdae's hold was solid.

"Okay but not in the daylight. And set a meeting spot. Don't go into crowded areas. I'll set it for you." Said Kyungsoo who was really worried about Baekhyun.

"I'll go with you as a lookout." Amber offered but Baekhyun lifted his hand to deny the offer. "Only I go." He said clearly. “And there is no need to arrange a meeting just track his phone. It’s faster.” There was an authority in his voice that was only there when Byun Baekhyun was really serious about something and that was when others listened to him.

He had a matter to settle with Chanyeol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for leaving the comments and kudos! I am glad to see you like this story please continue to leave comments in the future as well. Have a good day.


	9. Scream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a graphic description of people burning. So if anyone has any trouble please avoid the flashback that starts after the page break.

****

**CHAPTER 9: SCREAM**

"Chanyeol why aren't you eating anything?" Junmyeon asked, looking at Chanyeol whose plate was still full. Sehun looked at Chanyeol too from beside him. They had just gotten back to Cafe Universe to collect their van when they got a call from Junmyeon, who wanted to meet them and ask about Baekhyun.

Chanyeol hardly looked up from his food and sighed heavily. Sehun nudged him with his elbow and Chanyeol ignored it completely.

"What's gotten into you?" Junmyeon asked worriedly, he was concerned about Chanyeol. He started to think if he had actually made a mistake by asking Chanyeol to divulge in this business. It might get messy and his heart ached thinking about the danger in this task. He wished he could jump in but with the situation he was in, he would be giving all of Baekhyun's hard work away.

"I'll be back." Chanyeol broke the silence a while later, ignoring the gazes of the other males on him, and got up from the table to head towards the restroom.

Sehun waited for Chanyeol to vanish and then he started speaking as if the dam on his mouth had broken and spilled all the words that he held in his heart out.

Junmyeon could only stare and try to keep up with everything that spewed out of Sehun's mouth. He told Junmyeon everything from the first meeting with Baekhyun to the second one and then to the part where Chanyeol vanished.

With the kind of energy that Junmyeon radiated, Sehun didn't even hesitate to tell him anything as bizarre as ‘the vanishing’ as he named it. He knew that Junmyeon would believe him or at least give him the benefit of the doubt but he could never have expected the reaction he got.

Junmyeon was sipping the mint slush and he choked on it.

"When!" He asked when he was finished coughing.

Sehun’s narrowed his eyes at Junmyeon, this was not at all the reaction he was hoping for. He had been getting the reactions that declared him crazy, so he stopped now to ponder if Junmyeon had even heard what he said correctly.

“Hyung, why are you like this.” Sehun commented on the bulging eyes and a shocked face that Junmyeon was supporting. 

Junmyeon rolled his eyes. “Just tell me what happened.”

“Well ... I am not sure, he was with Baekhyun hyung and as soon as he touched Baekhyun, they both vanished.” Sehun explained. “I am not complaining though, I am glad he intervened when he did because I might have had my perfect nose broken otherwise.” Sehun touched his nose with his hand as if to make sure it was still straight.

“Back to the point Sehunnie.” Junmyeon reminded him and rubbed his face in frustration.

“Well anyway, they vanished, Hyung!” Sehun made a hand gesture. “Poof! There was no one there, and then, all of a sudden they were there and then they passed out.” Junmyeon listened to it carefully, examining every word and then he frowned. He had trouble deciphering Sehun sometimes, the younger spoke like a child.

“He vanished?” He asked again to confirm, he felt so confused.

“YES!” Sehun almost shouted and then cringed when a lot of people turned to look at him.

“I mean yes they vanished! I know it’s almost impossible but it did happen hyung! I am not lying and I am not crazy. I don’t know why everyone is painting me with this lunatic image!” He protested.

“I know you’re not lying Sehun,” Junmyeon reassured and then hesitated but continued. “In fact, Sehun I think I’ve seen this before.” Sehun visibly perked up at this news.

“What do you ...” Sehun started loudly but he was cut off by Junmyeon’s hushing.

“Sorry.” Sehun leaned in close and whispered. “What do you mean, you’ve seen it before.”

“It was really like 10 years ago but, I swear I saw it.” Junmyeon was so confused by everything. This was not at all what he had thought this whole ordeal would go. When he had come here to meet Chanyeol he had been sure that it was going to be a normal meet up between them. His first red flag should have been Chanyeol’s sulkiness and the second one, the lack of bickering between Sehun and Chanyeol. He looked towards the direction of the washroom area where Chanyeol had vanished to.

“Sehun, how was Chanyeol after he woke up?” Junmyeon posed.

“Extremely disoriented. He couldn’t walk or focus for a long time. He was really weak and he slept for more than 12 hours after that.” Sehun explained it all in one breath, he had discussed everything with Jongdae and Kyungsoo a thousand times before. “But Baekhyun was worse, he couldn’t even hold his arm up. Kyungsoo had to feed him food.”

Junmyeon frowned, worried. He felt scared for the two. He couldn’t help but feel responsible for this chain of events. Junmyeon’s train of thoughts was running at the speed of a bullet. Connecting incident after incident.

“I have seen it twice come to think of it.” He murmured.

“Hyung, what does this have to do with anything?” Sehun asked and if Junmyeon wasn’t mistaken, he heard a note of fear in it.

“Sehun, think about it! How many times can a person pass out where they not just faint but they vanish for a while, honestly I kept thinking like it was my mind playing funny tricks in the heat of the moment when I was worried about Chanyeol but you saw it too this time.” Junmyeon explained to Sehun and then asked. “And are you sure Jongdae and Kyungsoo witnessed it too?”

“They did! Baekhyun hyung vanished too.” Sehun exclaimed, his eyes widened. And then silence fell until it was broken by Sehun.

“Hyung!” He slapped his forehead as he remembered something. “Do you recall when we were at the sight of the burning building two years back?” Sehun extended his hand as an emphasizing gesture. Junmyeon nodded and waited to hear more.

“It happened then too when I couldn’t find him anywhere and then suddenly you saw him through the smoke.” Junmyeon gasped, indeed, that was another incident, which again was ignored while too much else was happening around them. Sehun was mortified by the number of times this could have happened and had been ignored for one reason or the other. Sehun suddenly became very uneasy.

“It's been an awfully long time. Should we check on him?” Sehun did not mention the name but it implied the meaning all the same anyway, he looked in the direction of the restroom.

“I’ll go.” Said Junmyeon and rushed to check on Chanyeol.

******

Chanyeol left the table and all the and the awkward silence behind and headed to the parking lot through the back door of the Cafe. He just wanted this day to end already and go to work the next day and try to come back on the track or normalcy.

The sun was setting now and it was that time of the day when the shadows were deepening, merging with the falling darkness, the night was settling in. This time of the day had always made Chanyeol uneasy. He shuddered in the cold air and went to where their van was parked to get his jacket.

He unlocked the back of the van and went inside, he spotted his jacked and was putting it on, in that cramped space when the door of the van closed. He whirled around in alarm, his hands going up in case he needed to defend himself, but there was only Baekhyun there. He relaxed a little. He took a hold of the dangling jacket sleeve and continued to drive his arm through it.

“Baekhyun,” He acknowledged. “Is everything okay?” He felt a little concerned about the man who he had gotten to know over a couple of hours that they’d spent together in the forest covering the safe house. He adjusted the shoulders of his jacket.

“Everything is fine.” Baekhyun said and tossed Chanyeol something which Chanyeol caught thanks to his good reflexes.

“My wallet, Thanks!” Chanyeol brightened a little. “I didn’t even know I left it behind. But you didn’t have to bring it all the way here… How did you even know I was here?” Chanyeol narrowed his eyes.

“No, I pick-pocketed it from you when you were sulking in the parking lot.” Said Baekhyun with a smile. “And I had Soo track you.” Baekhyun sensed Chanyeol growing agitated and quickly raised his hands in defense. “I swear we won’t violate your privacy once this is all over.”

“I will change my phone and sim first thing after.” Chanyeol reassured. “And did you really pick my wallet?” Chanyeol asked in disbelief, Baekhyun was talented in… thieving? Then he really took in what Baekhyun had said and snapped. “Wait... I was not sulking!”

“Dude you should have seen your face a moment ago who pouts at 25? And I didn’t pick-pocket it, I am good but not that good, sleight of hand is what Taeyeon is good at.” Baekhyun revealed.

“I’m 24!” Chanyeol pouted and out of instinct opened his wallet. Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a flat look.

“And I had to ask you something.” Baekhyun said slowly. Chanyeol put his wallet in his jacket pocket.

“Go on.” He said motioning at one of the small perches in the van for Baekhyun to sit on, the interior was only illuminated by the low lights installed in it.

“Who’s the man in your wallet?” He asked Chanyeol. Chanyeol frowned to recall what Baekhyun was talking about and then he remembered, “Ah, that’s Junmyeon and his father.” He answered truthfully. He was a little uneasy talking about Junmyeon’s father but he didn’t want to show it to Baekhyun.

“Didn’t he pass away when Junmyeon hyung was ten years old?” Baekhyun posed carefully, approaching the subject. And this time Chanyeol did notice that something was off.

“Yes, he did.” He answered shortly, hoping that he sounded like he did not want to discuss this. Baekhyun nodded and then scooted forward.

“I think I saw him recently.” Baekhyun said very carefully. However it was still another hit on Chanyeol’s already frustrated mind. He rubbed his eyes.

“That’s impossible Baekhyun,” He chuckled and tried to fake the lightness in his voice. “Don’t tell me that you believe Sehun too.” Chanyeol didn’t know why he mentioned Sehun, maybe because Sehun had asked him about what he saw when he passed out and he had seen Baekhyun there and it was all still jumbled up in his head.

“I don’t, not yet anyway, that’s why I am here, to be honest.” Baekhyun decided to get to the point.

“And why is that.” Chanyeol asked more snappily than was necessary.

“Because, I saw you and Junmyeon hyung too.” Baekhyun revealed. “With him. Mr. Kim.” He slowly added.

“Your mind was playing tricks on you, you probably dreamed it!” Chanyeol insisted but his heart was beating really fast in his chest, he took a deep breath to calm it.

“How could I? I never even met the man!” Baekhyun defended. “What is going on here, I couldn’t have dreamed it, it is not possible, what is that thing I saw?”

“How the hell would I know Byun? Sort your delusions out yourself. Leave me alone.” Chanyeol snapped. 

The crease between Baekhyun’s eyebrows deepened. “Alright now, watch your tone here Yeol, you better watch it.”

“Or what?” Chanyeol challenged.

“Why are you even getting defensive? I just want to know what vision was. I saw people I shouldn't see! I just want to know what happened.”

“It was  _ your _ vision Byun how the hell am I supposed to know  _ that _ ?” Chanyeol shouted.

“You’re getting defensive!” Baekhyun said again, he hadn’t even accused Chanyeol or anything, he just came with an inquiry in mind. Why did it suddenly feel like it was more than that? And he was being polite. Why the hell was Chanyeol getting so angry? It wasn’t like Baekhyun had a great day to rave about, but he wasn’t on edge like that. He had just realized that something might actually be made of his and Chanyeol’s passing out. He didn’t know where it came from. He had seen Junmyeon’s father around 35 years old in the picture in Chanyeol’s wallet and he got that horrible dizzy spell. And then he remembered that he had dreamed something it itched on his memory and as his head cleared a little and the concerned voices of his friends penetrated, he remembered it all. And it all had to do with Chanyeol cause so far as he remembered he had only been a spectator. 

To Baekhyun nothing made sense he had just randomly seen a whole sequence of events and people he didn’t know. And the first thing that made him realize the wrongness of it all was the presence of Junmyeon’s father and most of all his age. He was still that 35-year-old man from the picture standing with a 27-year-old Junmyeon. Baekhyun had thought he was going crazy for a moment until he joined the puzzles and realized that in the center of it all was one particular tall brunet.

“You’re—” Chanyeol began but Baekhyun cut him off.

“No Park, I’m not, I never once accused you, and you know what that means? That you are guilty of at least something,” He proved. “You better spill the tea before I make you.”

“How the hell would I even know what you’re talking about?”

“Okay then, let’s test the theory out. Why are  _ you  _ in the center of  _ my  _ dream.” Said Baekhyun and started listing everything he had seen.

“ _ You _ had left to go to Café Universe, yes right here, to meet up with Sehun,  _ your  _ friend, on  _ your  _ birthday and which for one reason or another is the reason  _ you  _ were feeling upset. I am not sure why. Then Sehun met you here and led you inside the diner which was packed …”

“Stop!” Chanyeol hollered and stood up as much as he could in the small interior, he made the move to walk past Baekhyun into the open air, this small space was starting to suffocate him, he could not believe this, how did Byun know all of this? But he was blocked by Baekhyun.

“Sit back down and listen to me.” Baekhyun pushed him back, not hard but firmly enough that Chanyeol ended up back on his seat.

“Then as  _ you  _ enter the diner it explodes with cheers and music as  _ your  _ friends greet you, it’s a surprise birthday party that they arranged for  _ you _ . And guess the cherry on top Park.” Baekhyun went on in his sarcastic tone, clapping his hands to make a point.

“I said stop it.” Chanyeol repeated and tried to leave again but he was once again blocked by Baekhyun who also rose to his feet this time. “The first man who greets you like a father is Junmyeon’s father who’s been dead for over 15 years still looking as young as he is in that picture of yours, so tell me Park how the hell can I figure out something that is all related to you.”

“Shut the hell up.” Chanyeol yelled at the top of his lungs, eyes prickling and stinging as he pushed Baekhyun aside, who bumped into all the equipment, Chanyeol got out of the van and started pacing. He could finally breathe a little better. Baekhyun followed him out, not caring if he was seen or caught.

“So?” He yelled too. “Are you gonna deny it now, Park?” But Baekhyun was thrown off guard when Chanyeol pounced on him and grabbed him by his collar, almost lifting him off his feet.

“How the Hell do you know all that?” He inquired.

“Don’t expect me to follow your rules Yeol when you’re not following them yourself.” Baekhyun said, in a quieter tone now but it wasn’t any less mirthless. Baekhyun jerked out of Chanyeol’s hold and it was then that Junmyeon burst through the door.

“What is going on?” He asked as he came, the night had fallen completely so he couldn’t see the faces in the unlit parking lot.

Baekhyun who was too angry to face Junmyeon covered his face with his hood, and started to move away, he bumped his shoulder with Chanyeol. “Let’s spare Suho from our fights.” Baekhyun scowled. Chanyeol didn’t reply nor did he have the time to do it because Baekhyun ran away just as Junmyeon tried to catch him. He was more concerned for Chanyeol so he attended to him instead.

Chanyeol agreed with Baekhyun, they couldn’t let Junmyeon know how they were always out for each other’s throats.

“Chanyeol, are you okay? Who was that?” Junmyeon feared the worst for a moment like Chanyeol was in trouble with the Park Corp. He felt so guilty that it was unreal.

“I never should’ve involved you in this. I’m sorry.” But Chanyeol shook his head and reassured him.

“Don’t worry hyung, it was just a petty pickpocket. Let’s get inside.” The bite of finality in Chanyeol's voice made it clear to Junmyeon that he was not going to be able to get another word out of Chanyeol no matter how hard he tried. He was still the same Chanyeol that never spoke a word to Junmyeon in their school time together. So he didn’t argue much and led him inside.

***

Kyungsoo didn’t know why he was wandering the streets again. He seemed to do it a lot these days, it had been 2 days in the safe house and he had already spent half of the time outdoors whenever he could sneak a moment of peace into his busy life. Today though he didn’t know what compelled him to come to this particular area, that he had just visited a couple of days ago. He walked further and reached a decent sized two-story building. There was a really faint sound of soft music coming out from it. Kyungsoo questioned himself again, demanding the reasons for his heart dragging him here. It was painful, yet it seemed his heart loved pain. Kyungsoo sighed, he looked at the park in front of the building, a decent sized park with a jogging track, not too long but not too short either. It was true that he had more reasons than just his heart being stupid for coming here but he still couldn’t let himself get away with setting this park as the meeting place. He made his way towards a bench that offered a straight-on view of the building and sat down sighing way too heavily.

Kyungsoo had come here to meet Tao and Lay.

Tao had contacted him on Tuesday, he wanted to meet Chanyeol, he had given him the Thursday’s day and then yesterday Yixing took this location for the meetup, he had to make sure it was them before letting them into the info of the safe house. He hadn’t heard of anything about Tao and Yixing from Taeyeon or Amber and had to make sure it wasn’t Park Corp manipulating them to catch them. He was suspicious because Tao and Lay had both contacted him from a very trackable method and even though Kyungsoo had already protected the location of the safe house to not fear any sort of infiltration, he couldn’t blindly trust them.

He saw a silhouette appear and he recognized the handsome posture it was walking with, still, he kept his face hidden behind his turtleneck and the cap. The person caught the light and he recognized Yixing’s face.

When Yixing was next to him, he bowed 90 degrees and greeted Kyungsoo so formally that he felt as if he was the older one. Even in distress, Yixing didn’t forget his manners, he was probably the best in the ‘manners’ department of all the people Kyungsoo had ever known.

“Hyung, How are you? Safe?” Yixing smiled his dimpled smile and nodded.

“You?” He asked Kyungsoo, “Everyone else?”

“We are all fine,” Kyungsoo smiled back, couldn't help but not be impressed by Yixing’s contagious cheerfulness. He hadn’t known until he smiled wide that he really needed it. He immediately felt so much better and lighter.

Yixing looked around, “Should we move into a more private spot?”

“Sure, but we are waiting for someone else.” Kyungsoo informed. “But we could use a walk though.” Kyungsoo stood up and offered his cap to Yixing who had nothing to hide his face,

Yixing understood the gesture and put in on to cover most of his face and lifted the scarf he was wearing up. All in all they were unrecognizable. It wasn’t much noticeable as well because most of the people were covering their noses due to the cold.

Yixing asked Kyungsoo the basic information about everyone else, how they were, and what their plan was, etc. Kyungsoo answered everything. He pushed the thoughts he had while coming here out of his head and allowed himself a moment of normalcy.

“Is that Tao?” Yixing asked suddenly, Kyungsoo looked up suddenly and indeed, it was Tao. “Come on.” He said to Yixing and led him to the bench where Tao was sitting.

Yixing, Tao and Kyungsoo sat for a long time together, where Kyungsoo filled them in on as much as he could, from everything that had happened and he gathered some more information. One particular piece was from Yixing who told Kyungsoo that Minseok was injured when he was captured. That was enough to kill all hopes Kyungsoo had about rescuing Minseok and he started worrying how exactly he was going to transmit this information to Jongdae. This was going to crush him.

Kyungsoo rubbed his face and finally announced that they should be leaving.

As they were exiting the street, Kyungsoo paused before he turned the corner and stared behind him at the main gate of the building just in time to see a man exit in hurry, then the guy stopped and checked his pockets for something and started walking in the opposite direction, Kyungsoo sighed and with a final look for a long time, he turned around and turned the corner.

***

Jongin got goosebumps and then sneezed, he was in a hurry to get home but he stopped when this weird sensation crept over him.

He stopped in the street and twisted his neck to look around because of the feeling like he was being watched. It was just in time to see a round head with buzz cut disappear around the corner.

“Kyungsoo.” He whispered.

***

“Come home with me tonight both of you.” Junmyeon repeated for the umpteenth time, while he handed the credit card to the cash counter for payment of their bill.

“We will be fine!” Chanyeol whined for an uncountable time too. Ever since Junmyeon had walked in on Baekhyun and Chanyeol fighting, he had been exceptionally worried. He didn’t know that it was Baekhyun, and Chanyeol was sure not going to tell him that two of the people he cared most about, were most of the time ready to rip each other’s throats.

“We don’t know who that was, they might follow you to your apartment.” Junmyeon nagged. Chanyeol rolled his eyes.

“They might follow me into your house as well Hyung, if they want to follow me they will, no matter what.” He further retailed, when he observed Junmyeon’s expression becoming more and more horrified and pale he quickly added, “But they won’t do that.”

“You’re coming with me.” Junmyeon received the card back and took Chanyeol’s jacket from his hand.

Chanyeol followed him with Sehun on his tail who he was still not talking to, too guilty to say anything, to the parking lot. Junmyeon had taken out the keys from the jacket pocket and was not getting in the driver’s seat.

“Get in.” He called the younger men through the window.

“Hyung, Is this necessary?” Sehun drawled throwing his head back in frustration.

“Yes it is, plus you both are sharing a room. End this stupid row of yours right here.” He rebuked, “It’s been long enough, grow up!” he mouthed the last two words.

Chanyeol rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Sehun who shrugged, they both knew they weren’t getting out of this.

Last try, thought Chanyeol. “What about your car?” He asked hopefully

“I walked. Now Yeol, stop making excuses and get the hell in, Sehun at the front, go.” He ordered and the other two followed. Sehun heard Chanyeol mumble a small, “Why does he get a shotgun?” before he climbed into the back.

“Does the sound carry to the back?” Junmyeon asked as Sehun was climbing in.

“A tiny bit but it won’t when we’re driving, too much noise.” He clarified, Junmyeon nodded almost imperceptibly and started to drive.

“As I was saying before,” Began Junmyeon and Sehun started to focus on it. “This is not normal what has been happening to Chanyeol, we know nothing about it and we need to know more about this.”

“We don’t even know if it is harmful to hyung.” Sehun provided.

“Exactly,” Junmyeon approved. “But what I did think of is someone who can help.” He dropped and looked at Sehun to see his expression. Sehun’s mouth was open slightly with confusion.

“Who?” Sehun, inquired more as Junmyeon knew he would.

“I am not sure if he really can help but I hope so.” Junmyeon explored further. “Come with me tomorrow.”

“Can’t.” Sehun refused, “I got a text from Kyungsoo hyung that he has a special plan for tomorrow.”

“Okay then as soon as we can then.” Junmyeon offered and Sehun hummed in reassurance.

For Chanyeol, sitting in the back of the van he wondered if Junmyeon had a score to settle with him because he was bumping the van extra hard and Chanyeol was getting thrown around a lot. He had only been sitting there for like ten minutes but it felt like an hour already. He was quite a social guy and it bothered him to be disregarded and thrown in the back like this. He felt ignored, like a teenager who was just grounded by their parents. 

Not to mention that he was almost sure that Sehun and Junmyeon were having a grand time discussing him. He was their topic for discussion and he knew it, and he hated it. He knew that was the real reason he was chucked here in the first place. Chanyeol passed his time by looking out the window, there was only one small one. There was a billboard on one of the signals they stopped at, bonfire night and a huge picture of a fire. The whole board was decorated with flames and orange and yellow indentations and vectors. Chanyeol felt unease creeping up and the tiny burn scar, almost faded now, gave a throb. He was so used to the phantom pains that he hardly noticed it anymore. He unconsciously rubbed it with his other hand and as the van started moving, his sulkiness came back. He just wanted to get off this damned van, once he got out, he would teach Junmyeon a lesson.

* * *

Chanyeol was munching on a donut with his feet on his table and his left hand was resting on his knees, tapping to the rhythm of his favorite song. He had been sitting on his ass all day, He had nothing to edit and nothing at all to do. Sehun was busy though, he was running around here and there helping other more senior reporters since he was a newly hired employee and was still on probation. His first week was to observe the other reporters and build on it, that is how he should be learning. Sehun was going to be a reporter, that much Chanyeol had gathered from his looks. It was a miracle, he was not a model instead. He simply just loved journalism and he was Chanyeol’s junior by a year in college.

He was in pure bliss and he was just thinking of going home when he felt a hard pat on his shoulder and he shifted his gaze to find Sehun there, he moved on from his own seat beside Chanyeol and picked up his black jacket and put it on. Chanyeol pulled out his earbuds free to listen to Sehun better.

“A fire broke out, we have been assigned, let’s go.” Sehun said, picking up the keys and wallet.

“You’re first reporting?” Chanyeol asked, getting up.

“Not essentially I did some while I was intern. This one seems important though.” He answered.

"It shouldn't be something bad." Chanyeol sighed but didn't move. Sehun snatched the last bit of donut from Chanyeol and popped it into his own mouth.

"You're the cameraman, get up."

"But I don't want to." Chanyeol whined and got a stern 'get up' gesture from Sehun. Chanyeol sighed heavily again and got up.

They were halfway to the location, Sehun was fiddling with his diary and writing all the points that he already knew. Cursing every time Chanyeol hit a bump.

"Could you be smoother?" He snapped finally.

"I'm not doing it on purpose you know. This road needs repairs! You should add that in things to report too." Chanyeol fired back.

A cell phone stopped Sehun from answering further. He picked up the call. Chanyeol tried his best to listen in but it was impossible.

"Okay." Sehun replied finally and hung up.

"Who was it?" Chanyeol asked when he sensed signals of distress coming from Sehun.

"It was Yoona noona." He told Chanyeol. "The fire is in a market area and it just spread to another floor, she told us to be very careful. Everything will be okay if we stay far away.”

It wasn’t long before they reached the site, Chanyeol could see the billows of smoke rising from the buildings and it wasn’t just one building now but the smaller shops next to it were also caught on fire. Chanyeol starred as the people lost everything right in front of their eyes, the firetrucks and ambulances were also there. Sehun and Chanyeol weren’t the first news reporters to reach there but there were more coming so they weren’t the last, Sehun quickly assessed the situation and Chanyeol set everything up in the van.

The situation was bad, Chanyeol quickly shot the burning buildings, starting from the largest. The cherry on top in this situation was the wind, which was exceptionally strong and was pushing the fire faster than the firefighters could catch up. Chanyeol was horrified by it. Ever since he could remember he hated the fire. He tried not to let his phobia get to him as he filmed everything he could. The flames that rose to burn the sky with a vengeance, it seemed like they were teasing the scars that Chanyeol carried on his soul. He shot one more time from a different angle, took pictures and made some more videos as fast as he could before he and Sehun had to shoot. Chanyeol was ready to shoot. Sehun had finished his first report very soon, it was live and as they got a bit of break they saw Junmyeon in the crowd, Chanyeol was putting his camera in the van, a few more of the crew members arrived for Chanyeol and Sehun’s help, among then was also Junmyeon. Chanyeol handed one of them the camera when he spotted Junmyeon in the crowd of reporters and ran at top speed.

“Hyung!” He called Junmyeon’s attention who turned around to greet Chanyeol. Sehun came over and greeted Junmyeon as well. That was only for a few seconds and Sehun was called back to the van as they had yet to shoot a detailed report. Chanyeol gestured to one of the other cameramen to take his spot this time. He continued talking to Junmyeon about the situation and they were discussing the causes and implications of this. The fire was mostly like an arsenal case but that wasn’t for them to figure out. Chanyeol shuddered. He felt really uneasy here. Sehun was talking really loudly and fast as he moved through the debris and the crowd of people to show on camera everything he could, towards the place where the firefighters were trying to control the fire, they were trying to keep it within a limited space. Chanyeol and Junmyeon followed at a distance pointing and assessing the rapid spread of fire and the actions of the people who were trying to help. Chanyeol tried really hard not to look gloomy, while Junmyeon knew that Chanyeol had pyrophobia, he had no idea of the why and how bad it really was. If he had known, he never would have allowed Chanyeol there. Chanyeol was trying really hard to not let his legs shake.

“The smoke is getting to me now.” Chanyeol commented and turned his face into his hands, away from Junmyeon and coughed a little. The fire was at a significant distance but its effects were in all the surrounding areas, particularly Chanyeol felt them hard. He felt as if all the smoke would invade his lungs and choke him from within.

“Yeah, we shouldn’t stay here for long.” Junmyeon agreed. Chanyeol focused on the firefighters and how they were going inside the burning buildings, when everyone else was getting out. He admired their courage. Many of them would have families and they would be afraid too, yet they did it. Their families would be afraid, and they would be waiting for them at home every day while they ran into danger to save others from it. They saved lives. He was focusing on it when a building not too far away had an explosion within.

Everyone including Chanyeol and Junmyeon shouted in surprise and bent down covering their heads as debris flew everywhere. Chanyeol couldn’t stay steady on his already trembling legs and he fell to his knees. There were screams and shouts everywhere the crowd that was gathered there was in chaos, everyone was running and bumping into each other, all the firefighters that weren’t busy saving other people rushed to the area.

Chanyeol moved closer to the fallen building, his mind screamed at him to run away. In all the disarray he could feel himself feeling the same turmoil within him, wanting to escape, to run away like his instincts were saying, like all human instincts were like everyone else was doing. People were crying and the dust was so dense it was hard to see though.

Chanyeol was absorbed in the frenzy, the people who were pushing and running a few moments ago were not pushing forward to see the collapsed building as if it was a monument to be beheld.

Chanyeol could not fathom why in the world were people so disruptive. Couldn’t they see the lawlessness of their actions? Their constant butting in was keeping some of the firefighters busy in containing the extra crowd and not to mention it was a hurdle for the ones who were busy saving people.

Aside from the firefighters there was police trying to control the crowd. Chanyeol had thought that people would stay away but human curiosity was a dangerous thing and even if the people weren’t putting themselves in danger while spectating the whole scene they definitely were interrupting the survival of others each time paramedics and firefighters had to fight their way through the rush.

People were packed in the ambulances, some had oxygen masks on and some ambulances were rushing and out of the area carrying the injured to the hospital. The whole scene made Chanyeol’s head spin like crazy, too much mayhem.

That was when someone started to shout. Chanyeol turned around in a sort of daze, he hadn’t even noticed when Junmyeon and Sehun left his side to record more news reports, he hadn’t noticed their absence at all. There was a firefighter who was near a shop at the end of the line of fire that was roaring like it was the end of the world.

“Gas!” He heard. “There’s a gas leak!” someone else shouted, people started running away from the leak. In that havoc a child not older than 10 years, was pushed and he fell hard, near a burning piece of debris, when he got up, his pant leg was on fire and the kid was screaming so vehemently that Chanyeol thought his ears might bleed. The child was the one burning but Chanyeol thought his heart was stopping in his chest. He almost stopped breathing when he saw the boy running in a panic to somewhere, anywhere. Some people ran away, and some tried to help the poor boy but he was in so much pain, he kept running in desperate pain.

The moment of panic for Chanyeol that broke him out of his dark thoughts was when he realized where the boy was heading.

The gas leak.

This whole mess had taken a split moment but now, it was going to cost something big. If the burning boy got too close not only him but a few more people might lose their lives and yeol was not ready to see more people burn to death.

Chanyeol’s instincts told him that he should do something to help the kid that he should somehow help douse the fire even though that was the job of the firefighters and they were really trying to catch the kid who screamed and screamed in pain and ran away from every person that tried to spot the kid to help. The screams were so loud that Chanyeol had to cover his ears to block them but why wasn’t it making any difference. The screaming was still very loud and shrill and he whimpered weakly. He was sure that by now his ears were bleeding. There were many other people shouting too but Chanyeol could only hear the kid’s voice pick his nerves apart, slowly and painfully. He needed help, what the hell was wrong with him all of a sudden. He brought his hands away from his ears and looked at them, they really were bleeding, that sent Chanyeol into a full-blown panic mode. The smoke, the smoke must have been getting denser too because all at once, all he could see was becoming rapidly blurry. He fell on to his knees. From that spot he watched and watched, he didn’t want to but he watched as the boy’s skin came apart under the cruel and barbarous flames, licking at the skin and peeling it off. Chanyeol couldn't take his eyes off of it. He was sure he had closed his eyes but why the hell was he still seeing it and why were the screams becoming not like the boy’s screams at all and more feminine and more familiar. Why couldn’t Chanyeol get rid of this unending loop of horror? He was sure now that something was very wrong with him. Groaning and moaning he pushed against the pavement to push his body up, up, up until he was standing on his unsteady legs, so much so that he felt like he was going to tip over any time. The earth beneath him felt more like it was a rocking ship, being tossed here and there by an unforgiving storm and a raging sea around it. It made him sick and nauseous. He searched his surroundings, trying to find Sehun or Junmyeon. He needed help, he needed help, he needed help. Get some help. His mind was ringing, it was so loud and getting louder all the time. Closing his ears or eyes made no difference because the scene just changed but he still saw someone burning, still heard ear-splitting screams. He took a step forward, then the next. He let out a scream when a pulse of pain split his head in half, the noise of protest he made was lost in the chaos somewhere, unheard. He was aware that the boy was no longer on fire and people were carrying him to safety, then why wasn’t the screaming still stopping. He looked around in a desperate attempt to find Junmyeon or Sehun but there was nothing to be found, knowing that he was on the verge of using the last of his strength. He vaguely saw the wind as if coming from hell itself, lugging the soft but wicked licks of fire over to the gas leak. He knew what that meant, in his fuzzy brain he did regard the fact that people were running away, but his legs were not even ready to carry his weight anymore much less drag him forward. 

Ahead of him, he saw Sehun, who was looking back at him. Through a face covered in soot and dust, Chanyeol looked at Sehun in the eyes, with a gaze that was almost fully defeated. He let himself sink to his knees, he had found Sehun, wasn’t that what he was doing? But why was he doing it? He didn’t remember but at least he had found Sehun. Chanyeol couldn’t hear anything anymore. He saw Sehun’s expression turn pale as he started running towards him, his mouth moving to form Chanyeol’s name. Chanyeol gave a small smile which he suspected looked more like a grimace. Then there was a boom so loud, it shook the earth and broke the glass of nearby windows. A strong force of the explosion pushed him to the side and onto the pavement, he felt pain, then nothing.

* * *

Chanyeol took one look at the bedroom and refused to sleep there.

“Why not?” Junmyeon sneered.

“I’m used to sleeping alone.” Chanyeol argued weakly while hugging a pillow. Adding that to the pathetic responses Chanyeol had given out that day, this would probably top. He had wanted to yell at Junmyeon for locking him in the back of the van but all he ended up doing was hug a small plushie he found in his van and pout.

“You cuddle.” Junmyeon deadpanned with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll take the couch.” Chanyeol ignored Junmyeon completely.

“You’re a bamboo shoot Yeol, you’ll never fit.” Junmyeon debunked every whine that was thrown at him and at last when he threatened to lock them in the room together, he finally grumbled an okay.

Once in the room, he let Sehun use the bathroom before and took as much time as he needed to get ready for bed, hoping that by the time he went to bed, Sehun was already deep in his sleep. Sehun slept like the dead anyway. Chanyeol took a bath longer than necessary, brushed his teeth for so long his gums bled and scrubbed his face raw. Finally, after a day that was emotionally draining he exited the bathroom and went to bed, thanking his lucky stars that Sehun was deeply asleep already. He hoped he didn’t disturb Sehun. He tried to not fall asleep but he was just too tired and passed out.

All his hopes were in vain because around 3 am he still saw the same fiery dreams and heard horrible painful screams and menacing laughter that made his gut twist so bad that he woke up covered in cold sweat and immediately sat up in bed, gasping for air that seemed tight and before he knew it, the lamp on the bedside table was being turned on and Sehun was there beside him, rubbing his shoulder and offering him a glass of water, telling him to breathe. Soon Junmyeon was there too and this was exactly the kind of thing he had wanted to avoid by sleeping alone, why he never stayed the night anymore at anyone’s house.

He apologized for waking them up a million times as the three of them sat in the living room. Sehun wrapped a blanket around Chanyeol’s shoulders that Chanyeol did not need but the gesture made him feel a lot warmer inside. His eyes followed Sehun as he sat down beside him on the couch, he couldn’t hold it anymore and just blurted everything that was going through his head.

“I’m sorry for everything I said today, I do trust you and I could never ever be me without you guys, I’m really sorry Sehun.” Chanyeol started to say but Sehun hushed him.

“I never should have forced you to believe something so crazy like that as well. And I said some horrible things too. I’m sorry too, Can you—”

“Will you two kiss now?”

“Eww.” Both Chanyeol and Sehun exclaimed at the same time and even sprang away from each other. Junmyeon had successfully tried and failed to make a joke.

“Hyung, don’t make jokes like ever! We told you.” Sehun complained.

“Yeah, don’t even try.” Chanyeol added.

Junmyeon set the tray down with three cups and grabbed a cushion from the couch and chucked it at Chanyeol. “You!” He scolded.

Junmyeon sat down at a chair and handed Sehun and Chanyeol their hot cocoa.

“Did you have a nightmare?” He asked Chanyeol who nodded slowly. Junmyeon closed his eyes and sighed. “Yeol, you said they’d stopped.”

There was no response.

“You lied.” It was a statement.

A slow nod followed. Junmyeon sighed again and let his head fall and hang low. Tears filled Chanyeol’s eyes but he forced them back, however, he could not hold back the tremors in his voice.

“I just didn't want to bother you.”

“Oh Channie, You’re not.” Junmyeon said tenderly.

“You have to let us in Bro.” Sehun commented. Chanyeol lifted his gaze to Sehun.

“I know, I trust you. You’re both the best things that ever happened to me.” He intoned. His voice started shaking again as he further went on. “But not being on the receiving end of all the concern and attention all the time gives me that one little semblance of being normal.” He rotated his cup of cocoa in his hand to gather more warmth from it. “I always ask myself, why me? Or think why I couldn’t be as normal as you.”

“But you’re not Hyung, You’re special.” Sehun chimed. “I only talk to special people.”

“You’re a potato Sehun.” Chanyeol commented, sighing.

“A handsome, cute and royal one.”

“No, you can’t joke either.” Chanyeol shook his head. “I’m the only one with a good sense of humor, you both suck.” Sehun and Junmyeon rolled their eyes. And for a long time, they sat there, talking about serious topics and then playing around before finally two hours later Junmyeon sent them both to bed and Yeol was not bothered by the nightmare again until the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked the chapter as always your Kudos and comments are much appreciated. I have a fun time reading them.


	10. Time Boils The Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter jumps between present and multiple flashbacks there will be a page break before a flashback starts and "~~~" when it ends just so you can keep track of the events.  
> The title is based on Kris Wu's single "Time Boils the Rain" Tiny Times 3 ost. Me and my fellow author came to conclude that the lyrics fit well with the chapter's context so do check it out. Thanks.

**CHAPTER 10: TIME BOILS THE RAIN**

“What has gotten into  _ him _ ?” Asked Tao, as Baekhyun entered through the front door fuming and muttering. He went straight into the bedroom and slammed the door shut without even noticing Yixing and Tao.

Yixing went on and knocked on the door. “Baekhyun?”

“Get lost Soo.” He heard and looked at Kyungsoo, impressed. “You’re warm to each other.” He knocked again. “No Baekhyunnie, I’m Lay.” He waited and a jingle and a click later the door opened and a very surprised Baekhyun was staring at him. “Hyung!” He exclaimed.

“And me.” Tao raised his hand to call Baekhyun’s attention. 

“And Tao! Wow!” He came out of the room and left his sulkiness over the fight with Chanyeol behind. Baekhyun also looked at Kyungsoo who raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Get lost?” He repeated.

“Sorry.” Baekhyun answered cheekily.

“No, I think I'll hold on to that.” Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes. Jongdae, and Amber descended from the stairs, followed by Taeyeon. 

“Lay! Tao!” Amber greeted them with a fist bump and Jongdae with a shoulder bump. Taeyeon shook their hands. For a long time they sat down and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun explained to everyone else about the evidence, what it actually was, what it contained, where it was, what they were going to do with it. Kyungsoo showed them all the virus that he had created over the past couple of days only for this purpose. 

Afterward Tao left with Amber to see their car, start it up and take it for a spin and make sure to keep it running. 

When Tao saw the van he frowned. "Is it not small now? Like there are a lot of people. Should we arrange another car?" He asked Amber.

"Where from? Are you gonna rent it?" 

"No, by the way where did you get yours from?" Tao inquired.

"When we were running away from SM I hotwire a car." She told everyone. "But this one is SM property so no worries." She said, patting the sliding door. "It's a sturdy little piece of tin."

"We'll think of something, let's purpose this to the others and see what they say." Tao suggested

"Yea, plus I think you want to rest now it's pretty late." Tao nodded and they went back to the house.

"The building will still be awake. I don't see why it makes a lot of difference." Said Baekhyun.

"Because Baek more people can notice them in places they're not supposed to be." Jongdae answered.

"Yes at night there will be people, but there will be a lot fewer people." Kyungsoo added. Baekhyun pursed his lips.

"At the same time they can go unnoticed in a big crowd." He explained.

"Night is still better. Let's not take risks." Jongdae said. And the other two nodded.

Kyungsoo stood up. "Okay Baek, send a text to Chanyeol or Sehun and tell them to come here by 7 or 8 tomorrow."

"Won't that be too late?" Asked Jongdae

"No the building empties after 12 so yeah." 

Baekhyun was already clicking away on his phone. "Done."

"Who'd you text?" Kyungsoo asked curiously.

"Sehun." He answered. 

Jongdae sniggered. "What the hell did Park say to you."

"None of your business." Baekhyun snapped.

"Did you even talk to him about this whole situation?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Yes I did but there's nothing new. I don't want to talk about it." Baekhyun fired back.

Jongdae gave a hearty laugh. "I have never seen you so pissed! I really want to have a talk with this Park guy and get to know him."

Baekhyun grabbed the first thing his hands found and chucked it at Jongdae.

"Good that you want to meet him, I'll take two out with one bullet!" Baekhyun stated and went into the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Oh oh oh," Tao commented as he entered. "What is happening?"

Jongdae laughed. "He found his match." This time Kyungsoo smiled too. 

"Thank god now he feels how he makes me feel." He quipped.

Jongdae clapped his hands. "This is so entertaining."

***

“Hyung.” Sehun said in a groggy voice, still heavy with sleep. “Alarm!” When no one shut the alarm Sehun had to get up to get to the alarm clock that was on the other side table. He went around the bed and hit the clock to shut the alarm, the hit was harder than it should have been but that did shut the clock off, good now Sehun could go back to sleep. Why the hell did Junmyeon even keep a clock for alarm set for such an early time and in the guestroom at that? Weren't smartphones used for alarms now anyways? Sehun grumpily went back to bed and saw the notification light of his phone. He grabbed it and started looking through his notification, he hadn’t checked them since they got to Junmyeon’s house.

He spotted a message there from an unknown number, Sehun opened it and read it.

“Sehun this is BBH here. You and Yeol need to be here by 8 tonight.” Sehun read that and sat up. He saw the time in his notification bar, 5:33 am. He really was free all day, then he and Junmyeon could visit his friend today, regarding their Chanyeol issue. He looked at Chanyeol beside him who was deeply asleep. Sehun thought for a moment, so if Junmyeon and Sehun left immediately they might be able to get back before Chanyeol woke up. Since Chanyeol hadn’t slept much last night, he won’t wake up early. Sehun scrambled off the bed, put on his slippers, and trotted to Junmyeon’s room. Once Sehun was allowed inside he proposed to Junmyeon that they could visit the person he had suggested.

Junmyeon agreed and made a quick call to his friend, telling him of their arrival while Sehun used the bathroom to get ready. In the next 30 minutes they were ready to leave. 

“I don’t think we’ll come back before Chanyeol woke up.” Junmyeon commented as he backed out of his garage. 

Sehun looked at him disgusted. “If you hadn’t taken a whole hour gelling your hair to look perfect hyung.”

“Hey! It took five minutes.” Junmyeon defended. 

Sehun raised his hand and pointed to the road through the windshield. “Just drive please.” 

Junmyeon sneered. “Brat.”

Sehun raised an eye-brow and widened his eyes. “I swear to god if you don’t start driving.”

“I’m driving.” Junmyeon replied. “Brat.”

It took them a good 40 minutes to get to their destination. A groggy looking tall guy opened the door. His hair was standing on places and his eyes were half-closed. They got a yawn as a greeting. That aside, Sehun evaluated that he could be handsome if he wasn’t so sleepy and didn't look so disoriented. He was as tall as Sehun was and his body seemed strong and healthy.

“Minho did you just wake up?” Junmyeon frowned in confusion.

“Yeah. Come in before I catch a cold.” Minho replied, rubbing his arms and inviting them inside. He gestured for Junmyeon and Sehun to sit and went to get some water.

“Minho I don’t have much time. I came here to ask you about something.” Junmyeon twisted on the couch to look back at Minho who walked to the kitchen counter, stubbing his pinkie toe really hard and then dropped a water bottle on his foot and yelped.

“Oh forget it.” Junmyeon jumped over the couch and got to Minho, opened the fridge, and checked for the options. “Go, sit down, and answer my question.”

“You didn’t ask a question.” Minho quipped and Junmyeon glared at him. 

“Alright, alright.” Minho raised his hands in surrender. “What do you wanna ask?”

“Remember when you told me your friend was a little  _ unusual _ ?” Junmyeon put the pan on the stove for heating and mixed two eggs. Minho raised an eyebrow.

“Which one?” he asked. 

Junmyeon leaned against the counter, “I don’t know you didn’t exactly elaborate.”

“Junmyeon, dude you can walk this earth ask anyone they’ll all say their friends are weird, odd, bonkers!” 

Junmyeon rolled his eyes. “Look, don't try to deflect me the other way, just tell me.”

“Tell you what?! When did I give you this information anyway?” Minho inquired, now getting genuinely confused.

“The last time we had a bar night! Last month.”

“Oh my god Joony! It was three whole months ago and I was drunk!”

Junmeyon slapped the egg way too hard on the plate after it was cooked. “Say what? Nothing magical?”

“You're crazy. Last time I told you only about Joo Hyun’s obsession with tarot cards!” Minho insisted.

“Irene?!” Junmyeon asked thinkly.

“Yes freaking Irene. Do you have wax in your ears?!”

Junmyeon slapped his hand on his forehead. “I can’t believe this.”

“You were drunk too! You thought I was talking about some Chanyeol guy whoever that is. Honestly, how big is your social circle? I can't believe it either.”

“Nor can I.” Sehun deadpanned looking to and fro between the older guys.

Junmyeon narrowed his eyes to look at Sehun who was looking at them like he was stuck between two lunatics, which he was. He opened his mouth to say something else but Junmyeon pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare say anything.”

“Don’t bully the kid.” Minho waved his arms. He then pointed at Junmyeon and turned to Sehun “Does he bully you? He does right?”

Sehun made an innocent face and nodded.

“Brat.” Junmyeon grumbled and slid the plate with the egg in front of Minho. “You're useless.” He said nodding at Minho. He looked at the time and said to Sehun. “Let’s go.”

Sehun got up from the couch and put the cushion he was holding down, back in its place. Junmyeon was leading the way out but then Sehun stopped and turned around to Minho. “Minho hyung, What did Junmyeon Hyung say about Chanyeol Hyung when he was drunk?”

“Don’t know. I was drunk. I think it was how I hadn’t seen how difficult Yeol was that he went literally out of this world.”

Sehun’s eyes widened and he looked at Junmyeon who mouthed, ‘Let’s go.’

Sehun bowed to Minho and the last thing he heard behind him was Minho yelling at Junmyeon, “I can’t believe you woke me up for this, you could have asked it on call.”

As soon as they were back in the car, Sehun faced Junmyeon. “Seriously Hyung? I mean, Seriously?” 

Junmyeon looked guilty. “It’s not my fault, Minho is a crazy ass.”

Sehun shook his head in disbelief. “So are you.” Junmyeon was holding his wallet in his hand and he hit Sehun with it. Sehun caught it with ease. “I’m rich now.” He celebrated. 

“Hey give me that.” Junmyeon snatched the wallet back.

“Mean.” Sehun commented.

A few moments of peaceful driving later Sehun was the one who brought the subject back. “So what now?”

“I don’t know.” Junmyeon answered honestly, letting out a deep sigh.

“There must be someone else we could ask.” Sehun insisted.

“There isn’t Sehun, Do  _ you _ know of anyone?” Junmyeon countered.

“No.” Sehun said gloomily.

“So we really have to do it then?” Sehun asked a few moments later.

“Test the theory and trigger Chanyeol? Yes, we do.” Junmyeon said and then shook his head in disbelief.

“You know what that means doing.”

“We’ll have to hurt him.” Junmyeon confirmed.

“He’s not a remote control time bomb! He’ll get angry!” Sehun said in an angry tone. He was feeling frustrated but not at Junmyeon, at the situation, how could it be that no one else knew of what was happening.

“I know Sehun, I know.” Junmyeon supported. “But we have to do this.”

“He will not believe us. He already hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you.” Junmyeon said and then he hesitated to say something more. “We could -- we could film it.” he suggested.

“Perfect then he will hate us even more.” Sehun rolled his eyes.

“What choice do we have Sehunnie?” Junmyeon asked. “He doesn’t want to believe, he might have something unusual going on and it can cost him something. It might be for his own good. And there is only one way to make him believe.”

“And what if it is not good for him?”

“It will be, it has to be.” Junmyeon answered firmly, trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Sehun.

“How do we approach it?” Sehun asked.

“As soon as we see an opening…” Junmyeon sighed. The prospect of hurting the one person he had always been protecting was too much. “As soon as he gets touchy we hit. I’ll set the smallest camera I have in the living room so let’s keep the discussion there.”

Sehun nodded and then let his head fall back on the headrest closing his eyes. “This is crazy.” he mumbled.

Junmyeon stopped the car in the garage, but he didn’t get out or even remove his hand from the wheel.

“This is especially bad after last night, you know.” Junmyeon pointed out.

Sehun nodded, “It really is. Timing can’t be much worse.”

“We made him open up last night and now.” Junmyeon rubbed his eyes. “You ready?” He asked.

“No.” Replied Sehun too easily and too fast.

Junmyeon killed the engine and got out of the car. The air was so dense between Sehun and Junmyeon that they could touch it if they wanted to, hold it.

Both of them stood at the front door, neither of them wanted to go in, Sehun finally let out a deep breath and raised his hand to the doorknob to open it but Junmyeon’s smaller hand stopped him. “You don’t have to do this.” He offered. But Sehun just shook his head. “We both need answers.” He replied and with a final nod of understanding they put a smile on their faces as if they had been having fun and went inside.

***

“Jongin?” He looked up from the crumpled piece of paper he had been staring at as Taemin entered the room. “Please tell me you’re not reading that stupid paper again.” He said and Jongin hastily folded that paper and shoved it in his pocket.

“I’m not.” He said as he stood up to his full height. He was a tiny bit taller than Taemin but Jongin had a tendency to fold in on himself so he looked just as tall as Taemin did. 

Taemin narrowed his eyes at Jongin and then they flicked so suddenly to Jongin’s pant pocket. Jongin jumped and covered it. “Aha! I knew it. You were reading it again, I saw the corner of it sticking out.” Taemin accused. “It’s been four days already Jongin.”

“I know.” Jongin shook his head in frustration. “I can’t help but regret what I said to him. And to think he will never even know that I did go back to apologize but he was already gone.” Jongin rubbed his face with his hands and sank deep into the guilty memories of the day he had pushed a very dear friend away.

If anything, now he only wanted to be back with Kyungsoo. He just wanted to apologize and help Kyungsoo in any way he could. He wanted to help Kyungsoo get his freedom back. Kyungsoo hadn’t told him much, Jongin hadn’t given Kyungsoo the time to. But what he did know was that he was going to find Kyungsoo and get him back. He hadn’t told Taemin anything about Kyungsoo, just enough to make him understand the situation, Jongin was hell-bent on keeping Kyungsoo’s secret safe.

***

Chanyeol was already awake as they entered and Junmyeon went straight in his room and opened the cabinets where he kept his cameras. There was a tiny one installed into the small lego. He took it and set it on the bookshelf in the living room, in a way so that it could capture all that was happening in the living room.

At that moment Chanyeol walked out of the kitchen with some cutlery. “Oh you’re back, I’m setting the table for breakfast. Hungry?” He asked s cheerfully. Junmyeon clenched his hands into fists. How many times had he wanted to see Chanyeol like this and couldn’t, now he was the one going to take this childish chipperness away and he hated it. He was supposed to be the guardian not the opposite. Chanyeol noticed Junmyeon in front of the bookshelves. “Hyung, What are you doing?” He asked and Sehun sniggered. “He’s adjusting the books that are there just for decoration.” Chanyeol gave a small chuckle and Sehun didn’t feel like smiling anymore on the thought of taking that away. 

Junmyeon took a deep breath and turned around.

“Chanyeol please clear the table.” He said in an annoyed voice. They hadn't even planned this, but Junmyeon wanted this nightmare to be over as soon as possible.

Chanyeol looked up surprised in the middle of putting the plates down. “But hyung I thought you two --”

“We ate out.” Sehun’s voice was snappy and Chanyeol visibly flinched.

“Oh okay.” he said slowly and a bit dumbly. “Then maybe you should rest? I kept you up last night.” He offered.

“Yeah we’ll sleep when we want thanks Chanyeol.” Junmyeon belted and this time even Sehun jumped at the harsh tone. Junmyeon took a book off of the shelf. Chanyeol was close to shaking. He could feel his heart ready to jump out of his chest. What did the hell happen? They were okay last night. Did something happen that he didn’t remember? But that was impossible. He’d remember.

“Hyung? Something wrong?” Chanyeol asked tentatively, still testing the grounds he was standing on. 

“Chanyeol hyung, just leave it. Everything is fine. Just eat up and don’t talk, would you.” Sehun did snap this time and Chanyeol was shaken deeply.

“Se-Sehun I…”

“Shut up Yeol.” Junmyeon yelled, slapping the book he was holding down on the table so hard that it hit the plate of scrambled eggs and bacon Chanyeol had prepared and it went flying with all the food in it.

Chanyeol took a few steps back in shock, blinking hard and the mouth opens slightly in confusion. “Sehun thought he heard a small ‘I don’t understand.’ but he didn’t comment on it.

“I think I should go.” Chanyeol was going to leave, he needed time to think what was happening, what it really was that he had done to deserve this because he had done something right? It was always Chanyeol’s fault. He tried really hard not to cry.

Junmyeon saw his chance disappearing before his eyes. He had to say something now but it was so hard. He knew exactly what was going to make Chanyeol snap but would he be able to come back from it? As Chanyeol entered the guest room to collect his phone and keys, Sehun addressed Junmyeon. “Hyung we can’t let him leave.”

“It’s my last card right now Sehun, I can't pull it. It’s too cruel.”

“Just do it.” Sehun pressed and Junmyeon rubbed his hands together. The moment Chanyeol walked out. It was now or never.

“Yeah walkout Chanyeol. Walkout like you always do, like the coward you are.” Chanyeol stopped in his tracks, his back to Junmyeon. He was visibly shaking.

“How can I stand being in the same house as the person who’s responsible for my father’s death anyway.” Junmyeon yelled and he heard Sehun gasp and cover his mouth as he stood up, Junmyeon wiped the tears that had escaped his eyes and on time too because Chanyeol turned around with the most broken expression Junmyeon had ever seen on anyone. 

“Hyung please.” He whispered Junmyeon doubted Chanyeol would even have the strength to speak any louder. He was shaking and the tears were running down his face. And at that moment the reality hit Sehun and Junmyeon at the same time as a bullet train. What if it was all for nothing and Chanyeol didn’t vanish this would all go to hell and Chanyeol would probably never even look at them again.

But he had to carry on.

“Hyung please.” Chanyeol repeated sobbing. 

“Please what Chanyeol.” Junmyeon tried not to let his voice shake. “Ignore what you did? Ignore what you are? A walking, talking curse?”

Chanyeol grabbed the back of the couch he was standing next to as he was too weak to stand upright on his own.

“Please, why are you doing this?” His pleading gaze moved from Sehun to Junmyeon, to and fro in a frenzy trying to find some semblance of hope that it was all a cruel joke and that they’ll all burst out laughing now any moment. “Sehun.” He pleaded.

“Don’t come running to me, you don’t even trust me.” Chanyeol squeezed his eyes as more tears spilled out.

“Is it about  _ that _ ? Sehun please don’t do this. I'm sorry.” Chanyeol cried. “I can’t … I can’t take it.” His breathing elevated and his hand went to his chest and both Junmyeon and Sehun lost a part of themselves at that moment. They wanted so bad to take a step forward and embrace Chanyeol, tell him this was not real and that they were really really sorry.

To just breathe…

"I'm tired of pretending to love my father's killer!." Added Junmyeon bitterly.

"Pretending?" Chanyeol repeated in a daze, he could feel the room spinning. His breaths were getting shorter and shorter and this was a panic attack, he recognized it, it wasn’t his first. But it was his first in a lot of years so that really hurt. 

Chanyeol tried to move, but his feet were frozen. He couldn't move an inch. When he finally did take a step, his legs buckled under him, sending him crashing to his knees. What hurt the most was that Junmyeon and Sehun turned their faces away, they were disgusted by him, why weren’t they helping him? 

What had he  _ done _ ?

_ What  _ had he done?

He  _ deserved  _ it!

_ He  _ deserved it!

_ Why  _ did he deserve it?

Chanyeol didn’t want to see more. He couldn’t take more. He was simply too tired to take the hurt. He let go, something in his head snapped, there was a powerful and strong pulse of pain and then there was nothing.

Junmyeon was sure that nothing was going to happen and he had taken a step forward to catch Chanyeol when he had sunken on his knees. Sehun had grabbed his sleeve in a vice tight grip and held him back. But not helping didn’t mean he could watch; he had to turn his head away from those eyes. Those beautiful, beautiful, big, round, expressive eyes that he adored so much. And then finally like in a blink, the room had two people instead of three and as soon as Chanyeol had vanished, instead of being surprised, Junmyeon slumped against the couch, now fully crying. To not only hurt Chanyeol but through his father who had actually cared for the boy, it was too much.

He took a shuddering breath as the tears spilled out.

“I’m sorry Chanyeol, I'm so sorry.” He sobbed. Sehun slowly leaned on the couch beside him, hugging his smaller body and silently crying as well. And then they waited for that whole minute that felt like a lifetime for Chanyeol to reappear in the room.

* * *

Jongin stormed out of the apartment, blood boiling and fuming. How could Kyungsoo, his best friend ever lie to him like that? He had lied to Jongin about who he was. Jongin couldn't help but feel betrayed. That wasn’t just a lie, come to think of it, this was a really big lie. If Kyungsoo had lied about what he did, who he really was then how could Jongin know Kyungsoo anymore. Kyungsoo felt like a stranger to him. He kept running, his lungs were filled with shards of glass from running so much but he didn’t want to stop. He finally stopped near a small lake in the jogging park in front of the Dancing studio. Jongin sank to his knees and covered his face with his hands. 

He couldn’t believe it. He could feel the tears forming and slowly sliding out. He was losing Kyungsoo, he was losing Kyungsoo! He was losing someone he cared about deeply.

He picked himself up and sat down on a bench. He closed his eyes and all the memories flooded him all at once.

The first time he had met Kyungsoo he had been in an alley being bullied. Yes because Kim Jongin 7 years ago had a hairstyle that made him look like a girl. And he really liked it, and so kept it. It was hard to be bullied because of something so trivial. But he just didn’t want to change his hair because of the bullies, he wanted to be who he was. 

Kyungsoo had helped him then and he had given him his number out of the blue, they hadn't even known each other and he had shown up when he had called.

Jongin was pulled back to the present when he saw Kyungsoo’s smiling face. 

He wiped his eyes and smiled as well and then like a sequence of memories flooded him. He remembered every time they went out together how Kyungsoo always took care of how well he ate. How many times had Kyungsoo come to him and comforted him when Jongin was depressed and needed someone by his side. Especially when…

Jongin opened his eyes and he chuckled. How wrong he was. He realized that he couldn't judge Kyungsoo on the merits of who he was and what he did for a living. Lying was a part of his job, he couldn’t afford to tell Jongin and Jongin could understand, he never really had the best stomach to keep secrets. 

He had to evaluate Kyungsoo on how he was with Jongin. And Jongin could only recall the moments when Kyungsoo had offered him his utter and full support like the first time he was rejected by a company to become a professional choreographer, he had picked Jongin up, taken him to his own place and cooked his favorite foods for him all weekend.

And the time Jongin tricked Kyungsoo into eating wasabi and his betrayed face afterward.

The time he had come to his school to check up on Jongin.

The time Mark had clung to him and said, 'I don't want to eat with him, he's scary.' 

When he had practically kidnapped Jongin and taken him to a one-night camping trip.

The list went on.

He could sit there and count all night and day and another night and the list would still go on.

Jongin realized his mistake at that moment. He stood up and started running once again back to his apartment. All he wanted now was to go back, rush in, and embrace Kyungsoo in the warmest hug he had ever given anyone and Jongin liked to give hugs, that was one of the reasons Kyungsoo called him Nini Bear.

He ran as he had never run before, not even when he was angry just 20 minutes ago. One turn, then another, then another, his dancing studio wasn't far from his home so he had never needed a car or anything. He ran and soon he was in front of his own apartment. One look at it and he thought he was too late. He could feel the loneliness wafting from inside the house. Yet he collected himself and put a smile on his face before opening the door.

"Kyungsoo Hyung!" The smile fell off immediately, after one look at the insides, he knew he was too late. He had returned too late.

Out of sheer hopelessness he checked the bathroom and the bedroom, already knowing they won't be there but still hoping and wanting them to stay. 

But it indeed was too late.

He turned to the living room again and decided to turn on the TV but as he reached for the remote he saw a notepad underneath it. He picked it up to read what was written on it.

"Dear Nini, I honestly have no words that can describe how much I regret lying to you. I should have told you a long time ago. I always thought, my job might get you in some difficult situation yet I was afraid of losing you more. It seems I have anyway. I am so sorry. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. 

Jonginnie, take care of yourself and please remember one thing even if you don't forgive me that, I have always loved you. And you're like the presence of a cuddle bear in my life. I would have stayed and apologized but this wretched situation is pushing Baekhyun and me along. We are hardly even catching our breath.

I hope you can understand one day that underneath the lie I told you, I am still your Kyungsoo and you are my Nini.

Once again, I am sorry. Goodbye Nini."

Jongin read it thoroughly and then read it again. Along with a Baekhyun note, which was only simple.

"Thanks for your hospitality Jongin. I hope I can get the chance to pay you back one day. Thank you."

Jongin was devastated and he felt so guilty. The facts were hitting him like bricks. Kyungsoo might not survive this whole ordeal. There was so much danger and he realized he actually didn't mind it if it was for someone he loved. Obviously it made him feel afraid but it was a normal emotion, and Jongin knew he'd take every risk to save his friend.

But it was too late.

~~~~~~~

“You’ll get your chance.” Taemin assured Jongin. “You’ll see him again.” Jongin looked up at Taemin who was smiling.

“Don’t cry.” He deadpanned as he saw Jongin becoming gloomier.

“Or what?” Jongin asked, sniffing. 

“I’ll add another video to my catalog.”

“Don't you dare.” Jongin punched Taemin in the arm and then became gloomy again. “What if he gets hurt?”

“He won’t Jongin. Don’t do that to yourself.” Taemin reassured. “Next time you sense him stalking you, go get em.”

Jongin smiled and nodded. “I intend to.”

“Who’s kid am I raising?” Taemin commented when Jongin was cheered up a little and earned another punch. Taemin laughed.

As they were walking out of the studio, Jongin sensed someone again. He turned around and saw him, once again, turning the corner. He looked at Taemin who took the hint and nodded at Jongin mouthing ‘go’.

Jongin sprinted, he didn’t want to lose sight of Kyungsoo so he sprinted and started following. Jongin took notice to stay hidden and out of sight. He hoped Kyungsoo wouldn’t know he’s there and to his luck Kyungsoo didn’t. Jongin followed him to the edge of the green area, he hid behind a tree and noticed him go there. A while later he could see a very run-down house. Jongin felt really bad all of a sudden. Was this where he had condemned Kyungsoo to live? This was drastic. He couldn’t imagine how he was managing living here.

He thought of going ahead and talking to him but at that moment a girl came out and started chatting with Kyungsoo as she led him inside. Jongin froze. He didn’t know what this was. If she was a colleague or just someone Kyungsoo was meeting or even … something more.

Jongin decided to go back and come again in the night, his phone also started ringing all of a sudden as he saw the caller ID it was Taemin. Jongin cut the call and ran away in case someone had heard the sound of his phone ringing in the house even if he was pretty far away.

He took one last glance at the house and ran away.

***

Junmyeon jumped when suddenly Chanyeol reappeared in the room, Junmyeon straightened up from his leaning position. Chanyeol reappeared and he stood on his feet for a few seconds, swaying. That was a first because usually he passed out immediately recalling what Junmyeon and Sehun had witnessed before.

Chanyeol sank down to the ground. This time Junmyeon and Sehun did rush to catch him. It seemed for a moment thatChanyeol had no bones inside of him. Then his eyes opened slightly and as soon as he saw Junmyeon and Sehun, he scrambled to get away as if he had been burned. Hot tears slid out of his eyes and Chanyeol covered his mouth to stop a sob from coming out.

“Chanyeol.” Junmyeon extended his hand to him but Chanyeol crawled back, against the wall as if he was afraid Junmyeon was going to hurt him. Mind reeling from all the white noise and the thoughts he could not control, he slowly pulled himself up and leaned on the wall. 

“Chanyeol Hyung, we can explain.” Chanyeol shook his head trying to block out the pieces of Sehun and Junmyeon but it did nothing to block out the voices of his own demons screaming in his head.. “Let us explain Hyung…” Chanyeol covered his ears, screwing his eyes shut tightly.

“I’ll leave, I’ll just leave please stop.” He begged, putting one hand in front of him to stop anyone from coming towards him. He could not take it right now, he felt like proximity with any sort of human being would burn him, and he hated fire. “You’ll never have to see me again.”

Chanyeol declared with a shaky voice pushing himself off the wall and ran away, opening the door with trembling hands he rushed out. Junmyeon and Sehun tried to stop him but each time Chanyeol flinched so hard they stopped. 

Junmyeon stood there, shocked. He had imagined bad but never this bad. Junmyeon was unable to stand anymore and he sank down.

“Oh my god.” He said sinking to his knees. He felt sick, nauseated like he would throw up any minute. He looked in the direction where Chanyeiol had vanished last and fear shot through him like a bullet. He understood the situation suddenly. He had not imagined it to be this bad because he thought that Chanyeol had healed from his past traumas a lot but now seeing his reaction he knew what the truth actually was. Chanyeol had never begun the healing process. Although he had learned to accept the presence of his friends in his life he had learned to trust them, but it had never erased the past he had encountered. Junmyeon was no fool, he knew he couldn’t make Chanyeol forget but Chanyeol had to heal and up until now he believed that he was helping him do that but Chayeol had only been pushing the past away, Ignoring it, running from it and hence Junmyeon remembered how unstable Chanyeol can be when upset.

“Go after him.” He said to Sehun who had his arms around Junmyeon’s shoulders.

“But...” Sehun started but Junmyeon pushed Sehun’s hands off himself.

“No  _ he  _ needs you more.” Sehun nodded, and left Junmyeon on the ground drowning in sorrow. But it was not only sorrow anymore, he knew what he had to do about Chanyeol now, he needed to find a way and make sure that Chanyeol learned to do what was important right now and move on.

The first thing Sehun checked was if their van was still there, which it was, he thanked the god, Chanyeol was in no shape to drive, he was glad he was on foot. Which also meant he could catch him with ease. He looked around trying to figure out where he possibly could have gone when he caught a glimpse of him. There was a large uninhabited plain area behind Junmyeon’s house, Sehun ran after Chanyeol, trying to catch up. It seemed like he had rocket boosters for how fast Chanyeol was running and Sehun could barely maintain the distance between them.

Sehun knew what Chanyeol was doing, he was so numb that he could not think of anything else but what had happened and he wasn’t realizing where he was going or how far he was pushing himself and that worried Sehun. But as hard as he tried he had to stop after a few minutes and catch his breath. And when he looked up Chanyeol had vanished. It was just a second where Chanyeol could go?

He started running once more but there was nothing. Sehun stopped, got his phone out of his pocket, and rang Junmyeon.

“Hyung I lost him.” He said panting into the phone.

“I’m in my car right now. Did you see him?”

“Yes he ran off towards the tree cover.” Sehun said.

“We have to find him soon, damn it!” Sehun heard a thud and realized Junmyeon was hitting stuff. And that was scaring Sehun, Why was Junmyeon so worked up. Won’t it be better to let Chanyeol cool down a little and then talk to him?

“Hyung you’re scaring me.” Sehun said but he was totally ignored by Junmyeon.

“Get to the road Sehun I’m picking you up.”

Sehun raced to the main road and Junmyeon was waiting for him, he got into the car and pointed to the way Chanyeol was going. Junmyeon broke all traffic rules to catch up.

“Hyung I don’t understand what is the matter?” Sehun asked Junmyeon who parked the car. 

“This is near enough to where you saw him last?” Junmyeon asked and started opening the car door without waiting for an answer.

“Yes but, it would be better to let him calm down first, Hyung!” Junmyeon got out of the car, not paying any attention to Sehun. The only thing he could think of, the only thing he could see was when he had pulled Chanyeol off of their school roof. 

Sehun got out after him and grabbed his arm to turn him to face himself.

“Hyung! Answer me! What is going on!!” Sehun yelled and Junmyeon shifted on his feet, running his hand from his hair the other hand rested on his waist.

“Sehun, you don’t understand.” He began. “I was the one who pulled him from the edge of that roof, I might have just pushed him off this time.” He said and another round of tears began falling. “He, I- I should have paid close attention to him.”

Junmyeon turned again to run and find Chanyeol but Sehun did not relent his hold on his arm, he was feeling even more confused now and he tugged Junmyeon back to get his attention. “What do you mean.” Sehun asked, rooted to the spot fearing the worst.

“We have to get moving, I'll explain as we go.” Junmyeon said, wiggling out of Sehun’s grasp and sprinted off. Sehun followed. “He and I were in the same school,” Junmyeon started explaining while running. “He was so close to giving up Sehun.”

“My god.” Sehun swore.

“I thought he had come a long way and he hadn’t.” They kept running.

They were both leaning against trees after running through the trees after a while. They still hadn’t found Chanyeol and Junmyeon looked like he was going to omit any time. Sehun was so worried and he didn’t know how to make this any better. It was then that they heard a loud scream coming from the forest. 

* * *

The ringing was so loud, Sehun could not hear anything except the ringing. He opened his eyes but … did he really? Everything was still black. What had happened? He searched his dazed mind. 

Was there…? Was there an explosion?

Yeah must have been the gas leak, oh right, he remembered he was in the middle of a report. But why had he left the safety and run near to where the explosion was? He had been a safe distance away.

His sight slowly started coming back. Thank god, maybe seeing will remind me why I was an idiot and ran to the explosion. Before he could press his mind in order to make it remember, someone was there lifting his body off the ground and shaking his shoulder. Sehun coughed and saw a stranger. He could hear the guy now but the sound still felt like it was coming from miles away.

Sehun pushed himself to sit on his own and mostly sensed the guy say more than he heard it ‘are you okay?’.

“Fine.” he croaked in affirmation and the guy patted him and nodded. 

“Good we’ll get you checked out in a minute.” Sehun nodded again and stood up, hoping Chanyeol and Junmyeon were safe. He stood up on unsteady legs. 

Chanyeol!

That was why he ran to the fire, to get Chanyeol away from it. A glimpse of Chanyeol looking beaten and defeated, sinking to his knees flashed through his mind and he looked around to find Chanyeol. 

But there was no sign of him anywhere at all.

He was disoriented and unsteady and dazed, yet he forced himself to assess his surroundings. People were running here and there. He tried stopping a few to ask them if they had seen a 6’1 giant somewhere here, if anyone had tended to him. But it would be pointless, Chanyeol always looked much smaller when he was lying down. The smoke wasn’t helping much either.

“Sehun.” He heard and turned around and got engulfed by someone before he could even see who it was.

“I was so worried, why would you run towards the blast? Are you crazy!” Junmyeon screamed in frustration. His hand hovered over the cut on Sehun’s temple and he sighed. “Let’s get that looked at.”

“No Hyung!” Sehun protested weakly getting away from Junmyeon. “Chanyeol Hyung.” Junmyeon turned pale and looked around and then he saw him, behind Sehun.

“Chanyeol!” He shouted and ran past Sehun to where the other male was lying down. There was a cut on his arm and a few smaller ones here and there but nothing too serious. There was blood coming out of his ears and nose and the whole thing just looked like a horror movie. Junmyeon choked on a sob.

“We need some help over here.” He screamed. Almost afraid to do more. Junmyeon pushed himself to do it, he checked Chanyeol’s pulse, it was there. He thanked the god and then he moved on to check his cuts. There were a few but they were to be expected. He couldn’t explain the blood though. There was no one around them who had blood coming out of their ears and the blast hadn’t been that loud. Sehun was also beside him, his hands covering his face and he was crying. He was hoping up til now that what he had seen before the blast would be an illusion, untrue. But it wasn’t. It was all true and it was horrible. Seeing Junmyeon check Chanyeol, he couldn’t fathom how Junmyeon could be so rational in this situation when just looking at Chanyeol was making Sehun lose his mind.

Junmyeon was trying to shake Chanyeol awake, to evoke some reaction from him but there was none so far. Then there were paramedics surrounding them, leading Chanyeol and Sehun to an ambulance. There were soon oxygen masks covering both their faces while Junmyeon stood talking to a paramedic about them.

The good news came about 10 minutes later, Chanyeol regained his senses and he was responsive and coherent. 

“Can you get me out of here?” He said weakly trying to get up but his arms were refusing to support him.

“Lay back down, you’re going to the hospital.” Jonmyeon said firmly, going back to cleaning his face of blood as gently as he could.

“No!” Chanyeol protested.

“Shut up and listen to us.” He said handing his oxygen mask back to the paramedics. They let Sehun and Junmyeon ride in the back of the ambulance with Chanyeol.

Once at the hospital Chanyeol had to undergo a full examination from MRI to X-rays, he was deemed healthy. Perfectly fine except for some outer surface damage, still he was advised to stay a night for further examination.

Chanyeol was a little disappointed because Junmyeon was paying for everything and even if he never said a word, Chanyeol felt his shortcomings. After two years of job, he had saved up enough to buy the van he owned but he had bought it recently and he certainly couldn’t afford all the tests that he went through today. Junmyeon would never accept the money back either and it bothered Chanyeol too much.

For now he looked around the room. It was pretty late in the night, he looked at his now shattered phone screen and sighed. He absolutely did not have the money to get a new phone. It was 2 am and Sehun and Junmyeon were both sleeping.

He couldn’t help but feel so thankful his eyes teared as he thought of his life just 9 years prior he had been about to chuck himself off of the roof of the school and here he was with two of the greatest and most caring people on earth. Chanyeol looked beside him where Sehun was sitting on a stool and his head was resting on the bed. Very uncomfortable for his back. Chanyeol gently shifted his hand to caress Sehun’s hair. He woke up immediately.

“Hyung! Did you need something?” he asked. Chanyeol smiled sleepily and scooted over.

“Sleep here. Both of you were too stubborn to leave, at least sleep here where you’ll be comfortable.” Sehun nodded and, careful of the IV inserted in Chanyeol’s hand, fixed himself on the bed.

“You scared me today, I couldn’t find you,” Sehun said quietly.

“Aww,” Chanyeol cooed. “I’ll be careful next time.” He promised. 

“You should be.” Sehun yawned and with a light encouragement from Chanyeol to go back to sleep, he did.

~~~~~~~~~~

They both stopped breathing at that moment and looked at each other, alarmed.

“That’s Chanyeol hyung.” Sehun stated but Junmyeon was already rushing past. They found him, he was standing next to a tree cradling his hand which looked absolutely mauled. Then Chanyeol sat down hitting the ground once, then twice and then … Junmyeon couldn’t take it anymore; he dashed up to Chanyeol and put his hand under Chanyeol’s the next time Chanyeol was about to drive it into the ground. Chanyeol looked up, taken aback, his face was red and snotty and tears were everywhere. Chanyeol tried to pull his hand back but he couldn’t, Junmyeon was holding on too tight.

He couldn’t escape.

Sehun was there too, putting pressure on Chanyeol’s shoulder and keeping him grounded as the other put up a hard fight trying to escape.

“Please let me go. What do you want from me?” He hiccuped, Junmyeon held him a little tighter as he hushed him.

“Chanyeol.” He called but Chanyeol ignored him, muttering nonsense. “Chanyeol! Look at me.” he left Chanyeol’s hands and grabbed his face. “Look at me!” Jonmyeon shouted. Chanyeol became still.

“Please hyung, you won’t see me again, let me go.”

“No!” Junmyeon said firmly. “You’re not leaving without an explanation.”

“But first your hand.” Sehun added pointing at the red blob that was his hand. 

But before any of that as soon as they stood up, with Sehun keeping a tight hold of his arm, so Chanyeol won’t run away. Junmyeon embraced Chanyeol in a crushing hug. “I’m so sorry Chanyeol.” He cried. “I am really sorry.” 

Chanyeol had become still, so still that it scared Junmyeon and Sehun. They kept passing nervous glances at each other. Sehun relented his hold on Chanyeol’s arm and still he didn’t move at all. Junmyeon took his other hand and led him back to the car. The walk back seemed to take a thousand times longer than the time it took them to get there. The car was off but the door of the driver’s seat was still open. Junmyeon threw the key at Sehun who caught them with ease. “Drive.” He said and Sehun obliged by running ahead and starting the car, Junmyeon got into the back seat with Chanyeol who kind of slumped down on the seat. Junmyeon took the medical box from below the shotgun and started the slow and painful process of cleaning Chanyeol's wounds.

He knew the alcohol stung and Chanyeol must have been in pain but he offered no such reaction, not even a twitch.

“Where to?” Sehun asked when they were moving. “To my house first.” He answered and Sehun sped up. Chanyeol was really unresponsive. His eyes followed the movements of Junmyeon’s hands and eventually a tear or two slipped out but other than that there was no other reaction.

Sehun was about to turn the corner to his house when Junmyeon stopped him, “Sehun waited a second.” He said and moved Chanyeol’s hand in different directions and there was a point where Chanyeol let out a small hiss.

“There is a clinic nearby, can you take us there first?” Chanyeol pulled his hand away from Junmyeon and scooted towards the door, seeing his gesture Sehun locked the doors so Chanyeol couldn’t open them.

“I just want to go home.” Chanyeol said quietly. His heavy voice was even heavier from all the crying.

“We’ll take you there but we have to tell you…”

“Hyung.” Sehun warned from the front seat. Junmyeon got the hint, for now, they needed to take Chanyeol one step at a time.

“First your hand.” Junmyeon nodded towards it and got nothing from Chanyeol. 

Junmyeon was surprised that Chanyeol relented so easily. It was almost like Chanyeol was afraid of them both. They led him to the doctor, it was a little crowded and they hadn’t made an appointment but the assistant took one look at their faces and said that she would try to squeeze them in. It was over a whole hour of waiting and Chanyeol didn’t say a word.

“Park Chanyeol?” He was called, Chanyeol stood up ready to go alone but Junmyeon was behind him when he walked in.

“Hello.” Jinki turned around and saw Junmyeon, a mixed expression crossed his face, first delight and then concern. “You okay?” He asked looking from between Chanyeol to Junmyeon.

“Chanyeol, I told you last time to not come here again.” Junmyeon felt Chanyeol flinch a little under his touch and he shook his head at Jinki from behind Chanyeol. He guided him to sit down. It was a bad time for that joke.

Jinki took the hint and didn’t elaborate further.

He examined Chanyeol’s hand from all angles, gave him an injection to keep infections at bay, and wrapped it up.

“Keep it warm and don’t strain it much.” Jinki said to Chanyeol. Chanyeol gave a small nod. Then Jinki fished something out of the bottom drawer, a lollipop. He twisted the stick a little and it started to glow. “It’s pineapple flavor.”

“Shiny piney, piney shiny.” Jinki said out of the blue, trying to cheer Chanyeol up. Junmyeon gave him a concerned look and Jinki stopped. He handed Chanyeol the lollipop in his uninjured hand and finally Junmyeon and Chanyeol left.

Sehun led him to the car and sat him down and then locked the car doors though he was sure Chanyeol wouldn't go anywhere.

It took about five minutes for Junmyeon to walk out and by the time the car had started moving again, Chanyeol was having trouble keeping his eyes open. By the time they made it to the house, he was so disoriented that He couldn’t walk by himself. Junmyeon was really worried but Sehun suggested it might be from the whole vanishing episode before. They had to carry Chanyeol into the guestroom where Chanyeol and Sehun had slept last night because Chanyeol’s legs Buckled and he completely fell unconscious. Sehun and Junmyeon lifted him to the bed, Junmyeon took his shoes off and put a pillow under his head. They had no idea what was going to happen now.

They dimmed the light and exited the room. Both of them knew how big of a mistake they had made. Yet they couldn’t think of any other way that they could have solved this confusion. And now all that was left for them, was to wait and see and face the hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I didn't update for more than a month ... I'm sorry? Well, it was Ramdan and it was a busy month but now it's over and its Eid. Happy Eid to all the Muslims out there. Here is a tiny gift from me. Also Happy Candy Day! Baekhyun SLAYED.  
> Have a good day with Candy!


	11. Hurt

**CHAPTER 11: HURT**

Junmyeon sat down on the couch. 

More like, his body gave out after the events of that day and he let himself finally sink down because his legs refused to carry him anymore.

“We made a big mistake.” Junmyeon said and put his head in his hands trying somehow to quell this turmoil inside him that kept telling him that this was all going to come back and bite him in the ass .

“Did we have another choice?” Sehun asked, he was still standing in the midst of the chaos that was Junmyeon’s living room. Junmyeon shifted his hands to rest under his chin.

“I don’t know. If we might only have waited.” Junmyeon said but Sehun shook his head at that.

“Don’t do this to yourself.” Sehun, as conflicted as he was about all of this, tried to reassure Junmyeon. “Hyung we’re totally blind here in what we are doing. There is no one who can help.”

“Sehun, I don’t even know if he is going to be okay … I mean what am I going to say to Baekhyun?” 

“I’ll go alone if I have to.” Sehun said. “We made a promise and I’ll keep it for both of us.” Sehun assured. 

“I’ll go too, and try to assist in any way I can.” Junmyeon smiled a little and looked at Sehun, “I raised you well.”

“You actually spoiled me more than my parents did.” Sehun says smiling back.

“At this point in life,” Junmyeon began, his voice came out raspy and ready to break. “It really does feel like you and Chanyeol are my children to be honest and I really don't want to lose Chanyeol. I just don’t know how to get him back.” his voice finally broke.

“We’ll get him back.” Sehun assured. “We will.”

Junmyeon was openly crying now, sobbing and wiping his tears with the back of his hand. He looked around him, the living room was littered with the pieces of broken plate and breakfast. He remembered food flying all over when he had slammed the book on the table earlier. The food that Chanyeol had prepared for them. He wiped his snot on his sleeve, a move that was very unlike him and slipped out of the couch and onto the ground onto his knees where the bacon was littered along with shards of broken plate.

Sehun was observing Junmyeon and soon as he saw Junmyeon starting to pick up the bacon he sat down beside Junmyeon too. “Hyung, I’ll do that.” 

Unable to form any words, Junmyeon shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut and letting the tears out. He wiped his eyes with his free hand before continuing and trying to speak. “No.” He pulled away from Sehun. “I have to do this.” Junmyeon sobbed. “It’s my mess.” 

They both knew those words meant to refer to more than just the chaos in the living room.

Junmyeon and Sehun stood up with the pieces of broken glass and their gazes went to the table which still held the rest of the items of their breakfast. Cold and stale. Junmyeon’s shin wobbled as he proceeded to the kitchen to throw the pieces away. He started to go around the kitchen. As nauseous as he was at the thought of food, he remembered that neither Chanyeol nor Sehun had eaten anything. Sehun washed up his hands and looked at Junmyeon. Going about the kitchen like a mad man. Junmyeon took out the macronies and he spilled all of them before he could put it into the boiling water and then he burned his hands slightly trying to stop them from falling. Sehun silently trotted to Junmyeon who had his hands on the shelves and his eyes closed, breathing deeply. The younger male guided Junmyeon by the shoulder to his room and convinced him to wash up, while he went back to continue to cook something.

He felt antsy and kept staring at his phone to get any message from Baekhyun’s side. He kept looking at his phone and back and at Junmyeon who was so quiet, Chanyeol who was still passed out in the room next to the kitchen.

He looked at the time and it was 6:35. He went to set the table, he was glad Junmyeon had removed the breakfast from the table, he wouldn’t have had the heart to do it. 

“Should I call Chanyeol hyung to eat with us?” Junmyeon shook his head.

“Let him rest for a bit.”

They filled their plate with a small portion but none of them touched it. None of them wanted to eat it. Not without Chanyeol.

“You need to eat before you leave Sehun.” Junmyeon said, offering the side dishes to Sehun. “Here have some of this.”

“I’ll go wake him up now,” Sehun said mid-way through his dinner. Junmyeon just nodded he hadn’t even touched his food despite what he told Sehun.

Chanyeol was already up when Sehun entered the room.

“You’re up.” Sehun was surprised and got no response from Chanyeol except a single nod. Chanyeol put his shoes on and stood up.

“Are you going somewhere?” Sehun asked as Chanyeol walked past him.

“Baekhyun.” He answered shortly.

“Hyung I can go alone, you need more rest.” Sehun said, grabbing Chanyeol’s hand. “You need to eat something first.”

Chanyeol pulled his hand away from Sehun’s and proceeded to the door. “Hyung!” Sehun pulled him back once more but Chanyeol didn’t listen.

“Chanyeol please eat something.” Junmyeon appeared too but Chanyeol ignored everything and left.

Sehun looked back at Junmyeon, “I’m going with him.” Sehun said and rushed out. Junmyeon followed. “Stay safe” he yelled after them. Sehun climbed in the van so quickly and swiftly, Chanyeol did not comment much on it.

The drive was over in a little longer than 30 minutes and Sehun had never been this quiet in his life, especially when he was with Chanyeol, they both bickered too much. He missed it and it made something ache in him. 

Chanyeol exited the car when they reached the safe house location. Sehun was lugging behind him on his own. 

The first thing Sehun met when he knocked on the door was a knife at his throat. Chanyeol jumped at their assailant. 

“Tao!” Kyungsoo eased Tao off of Sehun. “That’s the help!” He said and Tao backed away. Sehun looked at Chanyeol and he was almost glad that this Tao guy had elicited a response from Chanyeol.

Once inside they sat down and Kyungsoo sat directly in front of them. He slid a hard drive on the table towards Sehun and Chanyeol.

“In this drive, I have collected all the evidence and our data has been locked on it so I cannot extract it to any other device.” Kyungsoo began. “However I have altered it, I made it into a virus. You have to enter it in the main system of the company, say the computer with the most access around and unless it is me, no one can crack this virus.” He paused obviously feeling proud of himself.

“It is most crucial that you bring this back in case that virus doesn’t work, this is our only backup and I mean it.” Kyungsoo delivered. “Good luck.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sehun interrupted. “We are rookies! We don’t have access to the mother system, only the CEO does.” Sehun uttered.

Baekhyun face-palmed at this.

“You can ask Junmyeon for help, but allow me to explain, attaching this drive to the computer when it is demanding a password will take you straight through.” Kyungsoo said. “Baekhyun told me that Junmyeon has a lot of access in the company. It's just that he is really under watchful eyes these days. That can actually help you though if he can divert the attention from you two, you guys can make the magic happen.” 

Sehun looked at Chanyeol like he always did when he needed to ponder over something with Chanyeol but Chanyeol wasn’t looking at Sehun. 

“Can we count on you?” Baekhyun asked. He couldn’t tell why but he wanted Chanyeol to answer.

“We’ll do it.” Chanyeol said monotonously. Sehun smiled lightly hearing Chanyeol’s voice again. Once this was over, he was going to show Chanyeol the video. He would have to ask Kyungsoo to extract the video from Junmyeon’s phone where it couldn’t be traced.

“Let’s go.” Chanyeol said to Sehun while standing up. It took a moment for the younger to perceive it since it was the first time that Chanyeol had acknowledged him all day.

“Hang on.” Tao spoke suddenly. Everyone looked at him. “You’re really sending them to do the job?” He asked in disbelief and advanced towards Chanyeol. He grabbed his sleeve and lifted his arm up. “With these dangly muscles?” He added frowning.

“He’s stronger than you think.” Said Sehun standing beside Chanyeol. 

“I would like to test that.” Tao narrowed his eyes. “I’m gonna teach you guys some cool tricks when you get back.”

“Basic fighting maneuvers.” Baekhyun elaborated when Sehun made a confused face.

“Perfect. Why do we need to learn to fight?” Sehun felt a little scared.

“For a rainy day.” Yixing added dreamily. Sehun gulped but he composed himself when he felt Chanyeol leave his side. He waved at everyone and left.

Sehun got his phone out to talk to Junmyeon but Chanyeol stopped him. “They’re tracking him, don’t call him.” Chanyeol told him.

Sehun listened to Chanyeol and put his phone down. “What do we do then?”

"We'll go there and talk to him personally." Chanyeol answered. Sehun was so glad to have a topic that kept Chanyeol talking. 

"Where do we put the drive until then?" Sehun asked, mostly just to make Chanyeol talk again.

"We will take it with us of course." He said after a short pause and after that Sehun had nothing to say and Chanyeol didn't speak. Right when Chanyeol stopped the van, Sehun couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I'm sorry Hyung. But we had a very big reason to do--" Sehun began, Chanyeol opened the door of the van in a flurry. "Not now Sehun." He said through gritted teeth. Chanyeol put the drive in his jacket pocket and they both went inside.

Sehun was immediately jumped upon as they entered the building.

"Noona!" He said surprised. Yoona jumped off of Sehun and squeezed his cheeks. "Where has my favorite reporter been?" 

Sehun looked at her weirded out. "Home. What the…. Noona! Don't do that." He said he still couldn't forget when Tao had jumped on him earlier with a knife. Sehun let out a breath as Yoonah ranted in front of Sehun for about 5 minutes and then left.

"Did Junmyeon hyung come in?" Chanyeol asked. Yoonah nodded. 

"He came a little later though." She looked at the two of them suspiciously. "All of you were together right?"

Sehun paled. "What? No! Of course not." 

She gave a wicked grin in return. "Everyone thinks so though." To Sehun's surprise, Chanyeol gave a hearty chuckle and denied everything.

As they were let go by Yoona, Sehun whispered to Chanyeol. "We could have told her you know." 

"Absolutely not. It's already alarming. They already associate us with Suho and one toe out of line and they'll have us on 24\7 surveillance as well." Chanyeol explained. All Sehun noticed was the lack of familiarity for Junmyeon in Chanyeol's speech.

"Junmyeon hyung in?" Sehun asked Seulgi.

"He's in a meeting." She replied with a smile and went on her way.

"Great." Chanyeol mumbled and slumped on a chair next to the meeting room

"Now what?" Said Sehun sitting beside Chanyeol.

"We wait." Chanyeol replied with a sigh and like he had been all day, he became still and quiet.

***

Luhan greeted Sooyoung and Yifan as he entered the office. There was a bustle going around and even though not fully unusual, but it was unseen for that particular day. There had been no plans or uproar that he knew off. He went into his small office space and sat down in front of his table looking at the files, newest cases and his own personal research files.

On top of the list was a missing person case, a 15 year old boy who went missing a day ago and the report had been filed right after 24 hours of no sighting. He sighed. Ever since he came towards a senior officer in the police department along with Yifan, he had been particularly depressed about those cases. It awoke a kind of deep guilt within him that he could never get rid of for as long as he lived. Luhan picked it up and he was about to read the file when Yifan entered.

“What are you doing sitting down?” He asked, striding towards Luhan’s table, frowning.

“Trying to do my job. What does it look like?” Luhan deadpanned. He was not in the mood to handle another missing person case at all and he was pissed to have another one on his desk when he had specifically told Yifan to give those cases to someone else.

“Relaxing.” Yifan declared. “Now get off your ass we have a raid mission.”

Luhan’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “What?”

“A raid, Are your ears okay?” Yifan asked and Luhan made an impressed face.

“What do you mean a raid?” Luhan shook his head before Yifan could come up with more quips. “I mean, who’re we raiding? What is going on?” Luhan asked.

“Park ordered us to get ready.” Yifan gave Luhan a knowing look. 

“There wasn’t much detail, was there?” He asked already knowing the answer.

“Except that we are after Baekhyun, not much.” Yifan stated.

“Wait, Baekhyun?” He frowned. “How’d he even find Baekhyun?”

Yifan shrugged. “You’re surprised?” he sniggered.

“No.” Luhan said. “When are we leaving?

“As soon as the team is assembled.” Yifan declared.

“Why does it have to be so urgent? Like, couldn’t it wait?” Luhan said, throwing his head back and sighing.

“We’re basically just waiting for Park to say ‘go’.” Yifan explained. “I don't know man you know we can’t get out of this.”

Luhan nodded his head. Yifan turned to leave the office but stopped when Luhan spoke. “I don’t like this Yifan.”

Yifan paused for a moment and turned around, Luhan was already opening his bottom drawer and took out a file. He waved his hand in a small movement and the file was gliding through the air towards Yifan and he caught it.

“I keep going through this Yifan. I studied with this guy. I knew him.” Luhan persisted.

“People do not always appear as they are Lu.” Yifan sighed, putting the file down on the table.

“Look, I have this feeling.” Yifan narrowed his eyes. Luhan rubbed his face, unable to get the right words out. “Just trust me okay?”

“Oh I trust you Luhan, I trust you.” Yifan assured. “I’m not sure about this guy.” Yifan put his finger on Baekhyun’s picture.

Luhan chewed his lips and looked up. “I’ll be right out.” He told Yifan. Luhan knew that Yifan knew him really well and it didn’t help that Yifan had his special talent regarding reading minds. Yifan gave Luhan an unconvinced look but didn’t go any further. They had long since established some boundaries between themselves regarding their powers. 

Luhan picked the file up and frowned at the picture of a photograph of a young boy of around 7 years old. He stared at it hard. This was his moment to make the decision. What would he choose, what was the right thing to do? He sat there for 10 whole minutes looking at the picture and pondering over the same choice, should he or should he not do it. Most importantly, he didn’t know what Yifan would say. After around 15 years of essentially only having Yiifan as a friend and family, they both rarely did anything without consulting each other. 

Luhan shut the file and locked it back in the drawer before getting up and exiting the office. He found Yifan talking to another cop. "Ring me when you're leaving." Luhan said to him.

"Order came, we are leaving as soon as possible. Park says you've to lead the raid." Yifan replied.

Luhan almost swore out loud but managed to look cool. He was shocked, and only stopped the curses in his mouth for the benefit of their junior cops present there. He combed a hand through his hair.

"Don't worry I had planned the mission before you came, check it and see if you want to roll with it." Luhan thanked his lucky stars and obviously Yifan without looking suspicious. 

He patted Yifan on his shoulder. "Alright give me a moment I'll be right back. You're a lifesaver Yifan." He said to Yifan and left the station. He was glad he had used his private car to come to work today, he didn't trust the department cars anymore, he couldn't tell if they were rigged or not.

He shut his car, rolled the windows up and to make sure no sound could escape or be heard he turned the engine on with a slow song in the background. He took out his cell phone from his pocket and called a number.

"Hello." Said the receiver on the other end when they received the call.

"Tao? Is this Tao?" Luhan said and the otherside went quiet for a while before he got a reply. 

"Yes, who is this?" 

Luhan took a deep breath before he answered.

***

Junmyeon held his ground. He was sitting on a chair with two bulky men standing right next to him on both sides.

"Can you tell why you are here son?" The CEO asked with tenderness. Junmyeon almost gagged at the fakeness it radiated.

Earlier, as Chanyeol and Sehun had left his house, he had gotten a call to be present at the CEO's office as soon as he possibly could. The call had given him negative vibes from the start. He never wanted to be here and now that he was he couldn't escape.

"I cannot." Junmyeon lied. Of course he knew why he was here. This was about Baekhyun.

"Can you tell me what is your relationship with those two boys out there who work for me." Said the CEO referring to Chanyeol and Sehun and Junmyeon did not like the way he emphasized the last two words, like he owned them.

He glared back at the CEO staying respectful in speech but glaring daggers at him. The smirk that he was getting told him the CEO knew exactly what kind of game they were playing. Junmyeon's lips were set in a slight pout shape like they always were when he was working or thinking.

"They're just my friends." He answered but the lie was so detectable he was not able to hide the fact that he was unnerved by that question. What did Chanyeol and Sehun have to do with this? Did the CEO suspect their involvement with Baekhyun? If so then how come he was the one in here and they weren't. He doubted it was that he suspected, no. It was something else. The CEO might think Junmyeon was leading them somewhere astray. He wanted so badly to roll his eyes.

"Just friends." CEO mused. "You see Junmyeon, I like you. I really wanna keep you." One of the guards patted Junmyeon hard on the shoulder. Junmyeon closed his eyes and took a deep breath to keep his reactions in check. This is such a piss off.

"I am not your dog. I quit." Junmyeon said angrily, losing his patience. The guy had been wasting his time saying nothing. 

"I said I want to keep you Junmyeon." The smile Junmyeon was given creeped him out. Two hands were placed on his shoulders by the guards again and they pushed him down to sit again. Junmyeon gritted his teeth. If he was given a knife right there he'd drive it straight through the older man's heart.

"I see you care a lot about your ‘just friends’ so why don't you listen to me Junmyeon." It really bothered Junmyeon to hear his name spoken like that by the other, like a maniac.

"You become my dog and I won't have to hurt anyone." Junmyeon stood up again. 

"Don't you dare…" he started but he was cut off.

"I told you to not cook something behind my back, what were you doing with your friends at your house Junmyeon." Asked the CEO. Junmyeon looked around desperately.

"Who said I was cooking something?" Junmyeon quipped. "My friend was sick." He said referring to Chanyeol and it was true, if anyone had really been spying on him they'd know what was happening. Junmyeon had checked the inside of the house for all possible places for cameras and he was sure there were none there.

"I do not like the smell of whatever you've been cooking Junmyeon." Junmyeon was breathing hard trying to control himself.

"You are deluded and I am done with you." Junmyeon spat out and walked towards the door.

"You better stop right there or I can't promise you the safety of your friends Junmyeon, I want to keep you." His whole body was trembling by now and he just wanted to get out of there, find Sehun and Chanyeol to see if they were okay and never ever show up here again.

"Keep my friends out of this. They have got nothing to do with this."

"Oh but you have got something to do with Baekhyun and they have something to do with you."

The CEO had his elbows on the table and hands joined together he gestured his hand towards the door where Sehun and Chanyeol were according to him.

"You can't quit Junmyeon." The CEO repeated in a sing-song voice.

Junmyeon was frozen in his spot. He slowly took his hand off the door knob and turned around to face the CEO once more.

"You're sick." Junmyeon whispered. The CEO did not reply, instead he gestured to his guards and the next moment before Junmyeon knew it, he was being manhandled.

"Hey! Hey! Stop!" He screamed but remained unheard. They manhandled him into a bending position and as one of the guards held him in place the other took his phone out of his pocket despite the fight he put up.

"It's locked." Said the CEO offering the phone back to Junmyeon as if he would open it. Still in his bended position Junmyeon shook his head. The CEO raised his eyebrow and it was followed by a sharp slap to Junmyeon's face. Junmyeon felt his bottom lip get busted up and he shook his head again "No!" Louder this time but this time the guard holding him put his arm out and the other guard scanned Junmyeon's fingerprint over the scanner. 

As the CEO sifted through the contents of the phone, his expressions changed quite rapidly. He looked up at Junmyeon and his face was a mask of shock. He dropped the phone on the table and went through his laptop.then he stood up and grabbed Junmyeon from the collar from over the table.

"What did you do?" Junmyeon smirked looking the CEO dead into the eyes.

"You're not the only one who can tinker with a phone." He smirked and got a punch in the gut making him cough. 

“Where is the content?” The CEO screamed.

“I got your slimy hands off of my stuff.” Junmyeon sneered. “No more snooping around with me. Face me like a man you coward.” he growled.

The CEO threw the phone against the wall, Junmyeon screamed internally because he had paid big money for it. He loved to keep his phones up to date. 

“You will regret this.” Said the CEO and gestured his dismissal to let Junmyeon go. Junmyeon composed himself, picked up his phone and opened the door. Just before he walked out completely, he looked over his shoulder. “I quit.” The last thing he heard was a menacing growl from the CEO.

***

Tao swore loudly, everyone looked at him as he distanced the phone from his ear.

“What is it?” Yixing asked in alarm.

“Where’s Baekhyun?” Tao asked urgently. Amber and Taeyeon were looking quite alarmed too.

“He went outside.” Kyungsoo answered. “Why? What is wrong?”

“Call him in now!” He said and Amber ran towards the door. A few seconds later, Baekhyun was skipping over the front steps towards them, face full of worry and fear.

Tao extended the phone to Baekhyun. “It’s somebody from the police department, he only wants to talk to Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened to twice their original size.

“Amber! Get the car.” Baekhyun said to her before he took the phone from Tao. “Taeyeon, Get any essentials from the house we may need. Soo, erase everything.” Baekhyun said to Kyungsoo and Taeyeon. Finally removing the call from the mute he put it on speaker.

“Hello is itBaekhyun?” Luhan’s voice came out loud and clear.

“Me and my team, you can say it right here.” Baekhyun said and he heard a throat being cleared.

“Baekhyun, do you remember me? I was with you and Kyungsoo in the Law Enforcement classes.”

“We remember you hurry up and cut to the chase.” Kyungsoo put across bluntly.

“Kyungsoo’s there too?” Luhan said surprised before getting back to his point. “Okay not the point. Look I don’t have much time. Here is the thing.” There was a breathing sound and some static while everyone in the safe house was frozen in anticipation, Baekhyun heard a car approaching and Lay moved the draped a little and confirmed that it was Amber. Taeyeon came down stairs with a large bag and Tao took it from her to put it in the car, Kyungsoo detached his hard drive and removed everything he had on the computer.

“I remember you Baek and I refuse to believe what the media is saying about you. I called you to warn you, I’ve just been made incharge of a siege on your hiding spot.” Luhan continued, speaking quite fast. “My team is all ready and waiting for me. I didn't know or I'd have told you earlier. The location we have is the north-west side of the city.” Baekhyun looked up at Kyungsoo nodding at Baekhyun, So Luhan had their right location. “You have to get out of there now, I’ll be there in about 30 minutes. I want you to be long gone before we get there.”

“That’s a blind amount of trust you’re putting in me mate,” Baekhyun said, frowning. “But how do I know I can trust you?”

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone. “You don't have a choice, mate.”

When there was no reply Luhan continued. “Look you can trust me and that is the only reason you even have 30 minutes to get away that is more than you can ask for. Once you get to your new hideout, do give me your address. Tell Tao, Yifan is with me he trusts Yifan.”

“How did you even know Tao was with us?”

“Well I knew Tao worked for SM so I made a guess. I’m telling you Baekhyun, you’re really pushing your luck by delaying this. I can’t offer you any guarantee but please trust me.” Luhan explained.

“Fine.” Baekhyun growled and hung up. 

“Let’s go.” He said to everyone left in the room and took a last glance at what he was leaving behind and left.

***

“Hyung!” Sehun stood up when he saw Junmyeon walk out. He came straight to Sehun and Chanyeol as soon as he saw them. “We have to…”

“Not here.” Junmyeon cut him off and grabbed both Chanyeol and Sehun by the elbows and led them into the parking lot.

“What is it?” Junmyeon asked once he confirmed they were far away from all the cameras for the audio to be heard.

“We need you to drive the attention away so we can plant a virus in the main computer.” Sehun blurted out. Junmyeon rubbed his face in anxiety. His phone vibrated in his pocket, he didn’t even know it was still in working condition. He pulled it out and saw the caller ID, Minho. Junmyeon tried to cut the call using his finger but he only ended up with a shard of glass in his thumb so he used the power button instead and put the phone back in his pocket.

“What happened to your phone?” Sehun asked, frowning when Junmyeon hissed. Chanyeol, even though quiet, was frowning at Junmyeon’s disheveled appearance too.

“Do you have the USB?” Junmyeon inquired without paying attention to Sehun's question. 

Sehun shook his head. “Kyungsoo gave us a hard drive not--”

“No, a personal USB, like your own. I can trick them into thinking that I am up to something.” Junmyeon said. By the time he finished, Chanyeol was already moving towards the van. He pulled out a bluetooth earpiece from the front of the van for the call and a USB.

Junmyeon took his own ear piece out too.

“Good idea Yeol.” He complimented. “Now I am going to put on a show as if I am going to get their computer, you guys will be on call, with me.” He motioned to the earpiece and the other two nodded in understanding. “Now I will try to give you indications on when to go. Wait here for a while and then follow me in.”

Chanyeol and Sehun nodded again.

Junmyeon called Chanyeol’s number as he entered the building. Chanyeol picked up the call and gave one of the ear pods to Sehun so he could listen in too.

“Keep everything ready.” Junmyeon’s voice filtered through. Chanyeol reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the hard drive.

“Hold on to this.” Chanyeol said as something else came along with the hard drive out of the pocket too and fell on the ground. He crouched on the ground to pick it up. 

It was just an ordinary advertisement card. Just as he had picked it up and examined it still crouched on the ground. There was a loud crack of gun fire and Chanyeol fell on his bottom with shock. He composed himself quickly and stood up.

“Sehun run!” He shouted but another gunfire cracked through the air, this time going right through the hard drive, Sehun let go of it in surprise, letting out a shout. He looked as scared as Chanyeol felt at that moment. that was it. They were going to die here, trying to help a total stranger. Chanyeol looked around as he hid behind a car trying to see who was shooting at them but he couldn’t find them. They needed to get through the screaming people and to their own van which they had moved away from. The people around the area were running around, shouting, some were on the ground covering their heads. Chanyeol took Sehun’s hand, who was frozen in shock and was about to pull him when two gunmen showed up from around the corner. Chanyeol raised his hand in defeat. The guns were pointing at Chanyeol who still had Sehun by the elbow and he stood in front of the younger in a protective manner.

So this was what it was like to stare death in the face. He didn't like that feeling. It was an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach as it dropped his heart was in his throat and Chanyeol felt his whole being tremble. He closed his eyes shut waiting...

The gunfire crackled and cut the air for a third time.

***

"So did you follow him?" Taemin asked Jongin, intrigued.

"Yeah." Jongin rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah what? What yeah? Tell me more. Did you two talk?" Taemin inquired.

"What? No! Of course not. He seemed busy." Jongin said trying not to grit his teeth at the memory of that girl beside Kyungsoo.

"Okay let's go now then. Let's take you to see him." Taemin stood up.

"No! Never! What gave you that idea?"

"Your sulky face." Taemin answered smoothly. "Now get up."

"No!" Jongin insisted and Taemin grabbed him by the forearms and pulled him to stand up. "Let go of me! Wait a second, wait a second!" Jongin shrieked.

"Not until you get up." Taemin pulled harder still. And then his phone slipped out of his hands and slapped against the hard ground of the studio screen facing the hard wooden floor. He let Jongin go and they both looked at each other in shock.

"Don't be broken! Don't be broken, don't be broken." Taemin begged as he reached out to grab his phone. He picked it up and took a peek. "It's a survivor!" He announced because his phone was alright. Jongin let his guard down and Taemin used the moment to pull him up all the way in one swift movement.

"Taemin no!" Jongin yelled again.

"Fine! No! But at least let's go take a look at the location." Taemin proposed. "And Jongin you can't sulk without him and yet refuse to face him. You have to decide." 

Jongin sighed deeply. "I know." He gave Taemin a sidelong glance still trying to decide.

Taemin held up his car keys. "I brought my car." He offered. 

"So what? You always bring your car!" He blinked. Taemin rolled his eyes and gestured to the car.

Jongin led the way to where he had followed Kyungsoo to. They stopped once on the way there to get something to eat for themselves and then kept going. A noticeable stretch of time later they were entering the same uneven terrain of the forested area. 

"Stop the car." Jongin said to Taemin who looked at Jongin confused.

"Let's go on foot from here on. It's best if you take it back to the road I don't want to stand out." He said and Jongin got out of the car. He waited while Taemin took it back to the main road, parked it ready to go and then joined Jongin.

"How far is it?" Taemin inquired. Jongin looked around hard. His surroundings were quite hard to identify in the night time. 

"It's not that far but..." Jongin took out his phone and opened the maps.

"But what?" Taemin questioned. 

Jongin waved the maps in front of his face. "In case we get lost out there." Taemin frowned at this a little, but nodded.

They walked for about 5 to 10 minutes before Jongin pulled Taemin behind a very large tree. Jongin could have swore if the situation wasn't already so bad and he wasn't so scared of worsening it.

There were police cars swarming the area. Everywhere. Red and blue lights were lighting up the surroundings and there was yellow tape that was isolating one house from the world.

"No!" Jongin whispered. "What if they've got Kyungsoo there?" He said to Taemin.

"I don't think so." Taemin said. "The cops are too uptight for that. Let's get closer." He hauled Jongin with him further minding their steps to not make any noise and be seen.

"This is bad!" Jongin whispered. There were too many cops way too many. 

"Taemin what if they've already escorted Baekhyun and Kyungsoo out?" He said, horrified. Taemin looked worried too and he couldn't give an answer. 

The next thing worried them even more. They saw a police officer with a soft innocent face as tall as Jongin looking straight at the spot where Taemin and Jongin were hiding.

"Stay still." Taemin warned Jongin and for the next few moments nothing happened Jongin looked at Taemin with fear coursing through his eyes and when they looked back the baby faced officer was gone.

They breathed a sigh of relief when he did not appear over the next few minutes.

"He must have gone inside." Taemin offered. "Let's get out of here while we still can." 

Jongin couldn't agree more.

It was then that they heard a voice behind them.

"You two, shut up, get your hands up and come with me." Jongin and Taemin froze and slowly turned around. It was the same officer who'd been looking at them from a distance.

The officer looked at the house and then back at the boys and gestured for them to stay quiet. He then led them farther away from the house 

"Who are you? What are you doing here." Jongin was really unnerved by the behavior. He felt like he was being kidnapped.

"We were just snooping." Taemin provided quickly. Jongin knew Taemin could lie well but that was a horrible lie.

"Yeah we saw police cars headed this way and decided to follow." Jongin added.

"Good. At least you can lie well. Now tell me did you know the criminals hiding in that house?" Luhan said the gun was still held at the ready.

Taemin gave Jongin a desperate look.

"No!" Jongin denied confidently. And the thing about the lie was that it was true. He no longer knew who the real Kyungsoo.

The officer narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the reply giving Jongin the feeling that he could call their lies.

"My name is Luhan." The officer said, putting his gun back into the holster. "I am trying to help here. So would you tell me if you knew the guys living here."

"I don't know them. And even if I did, why would I trust you? Because you told me your name?" Jongin said boldly and Taemin cringed. He couldn't tell if Jongin had gone mad because the Jongin he knew would never talk to a police officer like that.

"Thanks for the confirmation." Luhan smirked, he wished he had Yifan by his side, He would be able to get everything these guys were thinking with minimal effort. He opened his mouth to speak more but a loud yell of his name cut him off.

Yifan was looking for him. He sighed.

"If you don't want to be found 'snooping' around then run now!" He said then pushing them farther away from him prompting them to get away. "Tell Kyungsoo and Baekhyun to contact me."

"How--" Jongin began but Luhan cut him off.

"Not now boy." He said and gave them a shove and gestured for them to make a run.

Jongin heard Luhan conversing with the person who was looking for him and the last thing he heard was Luhan saying. "Nothing I thought I heard something."

As soon as they were in the car and driving. Jongin let out a long sigh of relief. "He covered for us."

"He could have been leading you into a trap." Taemin said. "The hell were you thinking?! It still could be a trap!"

"It's not!" Jongin insisted.

"How do you know that?!" Taemin asked.

Jongin shook his head. "I don't know."

***

Sehun’s eyes widened seeing the guy’s finger squeeze on the trigger and he pulled Chanyeol out of the way just as the man pulled the trigger. 

The bullet cut the air and went through Sehun's bicep. He let out a scream of pain, hunching. Chanyeol quickly led Sehun behind the car, right next to their van and they crouched. Chanyeol jumped and opened the van door. 

"Get in Sehun!" Sehun crawled in the shotgun seat. Now Chanyeol had to get in the driver's seat. He stayed crouched behind the van. He breathed heavily and deeply, trying to calm his heartbeat. The gun fire stopped and Chanyeol looked from below the van to look for the feet of assailants. They had vanished. Chanyeol took the chance and ran to the other side and got into the van and before he knew it he was flooring the gas pedal in a hurry to get out of there as soon as he could, trying not to let Sehun’s pained moans whenever he jerked the van too hard distract him.

Only when he was a safe distance away he heard Junmyeon's voice. "Chanyeol get out of here." Chanyeol could tell from the sound of Junmyeon’s voice that he was in a panic mode, extremely distressed. 

"I'm out, out. Are you okay?!" He only wanted to know if Junmyeon was fine, despite the events of the day.

"I'm fine how're you?"

Chanyeol looked behind him as if he could see the road behind the road probably trying to see if they were being followed or not and then turned his attention to Sehun's whimpering form.

"I don't know." Chanyeol said distractedly. He was so absorbed in Sehun that he almost drove into another car. He slowed the van down and drove carefully this time. Chanyeol found a parking stop near a restaurant. The most crowded one he could find and ran to the rear of the van to get his first aid box. There were a few clothes in the van for an urgent change he could need. He took them all to the front and saw Sehun slumped in the seat. It hurt him to see Sehun like that. He took Sehun's hand off of the wound and looked at it, wincing a little. 

One thing gave him relief, the bullet had gone through and it was a flesh wound, and there didn’t seem to be as much blood as he had expected. But the blood loss was still a mess. Despite it being less than Chanyeol had imagined it had managed to get everywhere. He had no idea how Sehun was still coherent. He took the clean cloth he had found, dunked it in alcohol, a bottle that was always in his van no matter what for whatever reason. and started cleaning Sehun's wound. Sehun let out a noise of protest at the sting. 

"I know I know. Just a little more.” Chanyeol reassured. It was a gruesome sight, there was a hole in Sehun’s body and Chanyeol was looking right at it. He tried not to feel light headed which he tended to get. How many times was it that you were expected to treat a gunshot wound? He tried to distract himself by thinking about the time he had searched what everyone searches but never tells. How to survive something and there he had found the sun shot wound and the first and last lines of that article said, ‘no matter what it would be better not to get shot than to go through all the above.”

Oh how different the things were now. He was in a beaten old van, trying to clean a gunshot wound from a job he didn’t want on a person who he didn’t want to face.

Once the wound was clean enough Chanyeol took a rubber glove from the box and wrapped it around the arm above the wound to stop the blood flow. He used another clean cloth, folded it, and put it over Sehun's bleeding wound. He then set Sehun's other hand over the cloth.

"Keep pressure. I'll go straight to a hospital." Chanyeol said, starting to drive again.

"No." Sehun refused, groaning in pain radiating from his bicep. "Hyung they'll recognize me as a reporter. We can't go there." Chanyeol bit his lip, thinking. Sehun did have a point. 

"Safe house then." Chanyeol took a sharp turn and headed towards the safe house. He drove as fast he could, breaking all the traffic rules there were. He was sure he was going to get a million notices for this.

When Chanyeol got there, he could hear police sirens from afar. Worried and almost panicked at the prospect of having no safe house to take Sehun to, he left his van running and told Sehun to stay put as he ran to see what was going on. 

He ran faster than he'd run that morning, hid behind a tree. Noticing that the place where Amber's car was supposed to be, was empty. And he looked at the dozens of Police men walking around. Chanyeol backed away from the sight in shock before he took off running to the van and grabbed his phone as he started to drive away from there.

"What's wrong?" Sehun grunted, his voice was filled with pain. He let out a shout with every bump that the van hit.

"Police. It's been compromised." He had one eye on the road and another on his phone dialing Baekhyun's number, He put the phone on his ear, no one picked up. He called again and again and 5 calls later he was driving lost on the roads.

Chanyeol cursed and threw his phone on the dashboard and slammed his hands on the steering wheel making the horn blare through the night. 

He slammed the brakes and came to a halt and ran his hands through his hair, pulling at them. 

“We’re going to Onew hyung.” He said and immediately got back on the road. And started searching for his phone. His phone rang just as he found it and Chanyeol picked the call without looking at the caller id.

"I told you not to call. We could get traced!" Baekhyun snapped. 

"Where are you?" Chanyeol ignored the warning in his voice, seemed to alarm Baekhyun and he promised to send Chanyeol the address. While Chanyeol stopped the van again to wait for the text, he looked at the other male and that almost sent him into panic as he noticed that Sehun’s eyes were closed."Sehun." He shook the other male. "I'm okay. Awake." Sehun replied dazed and Chanyeol's heartbeat picked up once again.

It took an immensely long time for the text to arrive while he kept talking to Sehun about nothing at all just for the sake of keeping him responsive and awake.

When the text arrived, Chanyeol thanked the god that he had already derived half the distance to it.

He drove and drove. Once he saw the house in front of him, Chanyeol took the van as near to it as possible and got Sehun out who was heavily leaning on him.

There was a hustle as soon as he entered the house and immediately, Yixing was by their side.

They led Sehun into a bedroom and laid him down on the bed and Yixing started yelling orders at other people to bring him stuff and help him by this time Chanyeol had started to panic. He had only allowed himself now to be unnerved. There was dried blood on his hands and a splatter on his clothes. He closed his eyes tightly and felt someone leading him out of the room. 

Chanyeol protested. 

"He will be fine, Chanyeol. Don't worry." He said kindly. And led him out of the room. "You've done well. Now let me do my job."

Someone asked him to sit down but Chanyeol didn't reply nor did he sit down. He kept pacing. 

"You're gonna drill a hole in the floor. Come on sit down." Baekhyun offered Chanyeol. "Don't worry, it's only a flesh wound, he'll be fine."

To Chanyeol Baekhyun's reassuring behavior was coming off as very wrong.

"Only a flesh wound?!" He scoffed. But did not continue even though he had a ton of things he wanted to say to Baekhyun.

"Baekhyun's right." Tao said kindly. "Lay is best at what he does." Chanyeol nodded but still didn't sit down.

"Did you plant the evidence?" Kyungsoo asked Chanyeol and got a glare from Baekhyun.

"Why didn't you tell Sehun and I about the safe house being compromised." Chanyeol countered.

"We just got here. Right before you did."

"A warning would still have been nice." Chanyeol pressed and combed a hand through his hair. "Sehun was bleeding out beside me and I-" he couldn't continue, he had never felt so helpless before that. And he had been in a fair amount of tough spots. He couldn’t imagine Sehun not being by his side even after the day’s events with his friends. And that brought him another worry, Junmyeon. Was he really okay? Did he get out fine?

"But he didn't! He's fine!" Said Baekhyun and as if to back him up, Yixing emerged from the room.

"He'll be fine. He's actually not that busted up. The bullet didn’t hit anything important." Yixing helped Sehun walk out and sit on the couch. Chanyeol immediately crouched in front of him, his hand hovering over the bandaged wound. He clenched his hand into fist and stood up.

"You should have told us of this shift before." Chanyeol said again to Baekhyun. Baekhyun stood up this time.

"Look I warned you before that it was going to be dangerous." Baekhyun said. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. He knew another bickering round was going to start again. 

"Baekhyun we agreed that you told us everything." Chanyeol fired back.

"We didn't know you were going to get in a tight spot! Nor did we know we were getting ambushed."

"Right, you didn't know we could get in a tight spot, after thousands of warnings and actually send me and Sehun to do that job. You had no idea." Chanyeol scoffed and dragged the 'no'.

"Some people actually have a major risk here Yeol, a lot of people's safety depends on us." Baekhyun yelled.

Lay and Sehun looked back and forth between Chanyeol and Baekhyun and finally intervened at the same time.

"Baekhyun that's enough." Lay said

"Chanyeol hyung, it's okay, I am fine." Sehun reassured. Chanyeol looked down at a sitting Sehun and shut his mouth. After all that Sehun had said to him today, what gave him the right to actually talk on the behalf of Sehun when the guy hated him. 

"Yes enough said. And even Sehun is okay with. Guess it's only you who couldn't handle a little stress in your oh so perfect life." A lot of shouts followed Baekhyun's jab. Sehun's was the loudest. 

Chanyeol took a step back as if he had been hit. He stood there frozen with shock as everyone looked at him expecting another jab but nothing came, Chanyeol opened and shut his mouth several times before he shut it completely and left through the front door.

***


	12. Chasing Dreams With A Childlike Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the title for this chapter is a song by Luhan. Its a beautiful track do give it a listen. It is an ost of Sky Hunter, a chinese movie. 
> 
> And on that note ... Have fun reading.

**CHAPTER 12: CHASING DREAMS WITH A CHILDLIKE HEART**

Luhan jogged back a little to meet Yifan who was looking for him.

Foolish boy. Luhan thought. If he himself wasn't on Kyungsoo's side he'd have used that boy to lure Kyungsoo out.

"I'm here, I thought I heard something and came to check." Luhan announced when he reached Yifan.

Yifan gave him an incredulous look. "Alright, what is going on?" He asked.

"Nothing." Yifan shifted on his feet, frustrated. "Luhan there is no point in lying."

"I know. I- I don't know, Okay?" Luhan stammered.

"Why didn't you tell me that you warned them to run away?" Yifan said suddenly and Luhan jerks to attention at that.

"Stay out of my head Yifan." He said rubbing his eyes. There was no offence there, Luhan knew when he did warn Baekhyun that Yifan would know sooner or later.

"I don't have to be in your head to know that." Yifan made clear looking at Luhan with a knowing look. "I had a hunch before coming here. I know your tactics Lu. Just saying." Yifan shrugged his shoulders.

Luhan chuckled and hit Yifan on the arm playfully. "You tall bamboo shoot." He joked.

Then they became silent again and once again the air between them was somber.

Luhan shifted on his feet rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't like what's happening dude." He looked up at Yifan. "I don't. I just want out now, I don't think I can blindly follow anymore of Park's cooked up bullshit."

Yifan sighed and patted Luhan's shoulder. "I don't either. But what choice do we have?"

"I think ..." Luhan began and hesitated, looking at Yifan casually. "I think this is our chance Yifan."

"What are you getting at." Yifan said, searching Luhan's face.

"Park is in a disposition." Luhan paused before blurting everything out. "Maybe we should help them bring Park down. Once and for all"

"Have you gone mad?" Yifan's eyes went wide, hands going to pull on his hair. The mare thought of it terrified him.

"Yifan, we have been planning this, dreaming this for years!" Luhan insisted. "How many time did we have to break our moral boundaries, how many times did we have to suffer through years in our life for all the guilt for the shit that he puts on our shoulders?"

Yifan let out a distressed noise. "It sounded better when we planned it you know." he leaned against a tree and blinked hard. "It's too much for me. I can't."

Luhan looked at Yifan sympathetically, his heart was about to burst from all the emotions going through his head. It was one thing that he knew he could never heal from no matter how hard he tried. Yifan would never be here if he hadn't been stupid. It was his fault. He fell quiet and looked past Yifan at the cops behind them who were constantly going in and out of the house examining different things and gathering key evidence, taking pictures.

"What's your big dream?" Luhan asked Yifan as he took him by the arm and gently pulled him forward, prompting him to walk.

Yifan thought, he thought hard, and ended up sighing many times. "I don't know." He looked at Luhan and smiled sadly. "Dreams seem like a luxury we don't have. Can't afford it." Luhan smiled back, he remembered saying the same thing to Yifan to answer the same question that Yifan had asked him years back.

"You know, I dream of becoming a singer, or a choreographer." Luhan said and when he looked at Yifan, he chuckled. "What's with your face? You don't believe it?"

Yifan laughed. "You? Singing? Dancing?"

"I know, I know. That doesn't stop my dreams though." That was what I had always dreamed about. At twelve, I had dreams, I had a life, I had a band." Luhan smiled wistfully. "Now look at me." Luhan came to a halt. "I want that back. I want my dream back, my innocence back!" he whispered because he couldn't get the words out right. "Sometimes I think I am that same 14 year old boy who got caught up in all of this."

"I always wanted to become a basketball player. I even made the team." Yifan said. "Kris was my name in the team."

Luhan laughed. "I remember you playing and that name was so stupid."

Yifan raised his hands in defeat. "I liked it, still do. If only because it gives me a little hope and happiness back."

Luhan felt something stab at his heart. He had taken those dreams, and he had burned that past. Yifan who was examining Luhan's face and shook his head. "Don't apologize."

Luhan chewed on his lip to keep the apology in as he came to a stop. "I want 15 years back Yifan. Mine and the ones I took from you. That's why I want to do it now." Luhan said, fierceness creeping back into his voice and tone. Yifan, we are 29!" He declared. "When, if not now?" his brows furrowed upwards to show the intensity of the words that he meant.

"I'm afraid." Yifan admitted nodding.

"Who wouldn't be." Luhan murmured softly.

"What now then?" Yifan asked and Luhan told him about his call to Tao and everything he said to Baekhyun afterwards as they resumed their slow walk.

"How did you know Tao was with Baekhyun?"

"Made a lucky guess." Luhan said. "They both worked in SM."

"Isn't that too lucky?" Yifan said, narrowing his eyes.

"Maybe." Luhan agreed with a small laugh.

"If you really want to help them. I can convince Tao to trust you. He'll make others believe in you." Yifan offered. "I mean we really want to team up with a bunch of people we don't fully trust."

"But you trust Tao?" Yifan smiled warmly and didn't answer Luhan. "I just wan't them because they're trying hard. And they have the evidence, if we help them reveal it, Park will be weakened."

Yifan shook his head. "He's too powerful for that. He literally--" Yifan's stopped mid sentence. The reality was too gruesome and he was sick just thinking about it. Luhan still got what he meant. Afterall they had both witnessed everything ever since they'd been with Park Hyung Sik and they were basically brothers by now. "But it seems to be worth a try, I honestly don't know what else is there to do. I'm mentally retarted at 29."

Luhan laughed. It was one of the things that they constantly did to keep going, cracking little jokes while having a serious conversation because they both needed some relief in thier lives and they were each other's only means of getting it.

"Why are you so adamant on helping them anyway?" Yifan asked out of the blue. "There has to be another reason than just our gain, right?"

"First of all, what if they're innocent?" Luhan put out.

"And second?" Yifan asked when Luhan didn't continue.

"I couldn't think of a second. I'll let you know when I do." Luhan smiled sheepishly. Yifan looked at him in a funny way and smiled.

Luhan stopped walking and the other male stopped with him and looked at him inquiringly. "So, can you trust me on this?" Luhan said. "Are we in this thing together?"

Yifan opened his mouth to answer but Luhan spoke again. "You know if you don't agree to help me, I will still get you out of this mess."

Yifan embraced the other male in a hug. "I trust you, and we are in this together." He affirmed. He pulled away, his hands still on Luhan's shoulder looking down at the shorter male. "You're my brother Luhan, and you will never be alone in anything while I am here." Yifan smiled warmly and Luhan patted his shoulders in return. At that moment there were no words that Luhan had that could express his gratitude and so he expressed it through the gestures.

As they both reassured themselves once again of how one would never leave the other, they decided to finally go back to the safe house and end the plot that was happening in front of their eyes, for once and for all.

***

"Chanyeol hyung!" Sehun called after him and stood up to follow but he swayed and sat down. 

"You have to rest, he'll be fine." Yixing assured Sehun, to whom it felt like a repeat of previous events of that very same day, burst into tears.

"You have no right to that! You had no right to say that!" He screamed at Baekhyun. He tried to get up again but Yixing stopped him. "Don't make me sedate you." He said. Sehun shook his head.

"Don't, he can't be left alone." Sehun pleaded. "Please go after him, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"So he’s an impulsive whim too." Baekhyun mumbled. Kyungsoo stood up, grabbed Baekhyun's arm and dragged him to the door.

"Why don't you go apologize?"

He said through his teeth and shoved Baekhyun outside and closed the door behind him. "And you better have done it when you return Baekhyun."

Baekhyun stumbled around the empty area. Another scape similar to the last one, with a green cover of trees above. He found Chanyeol sitting next to a tree unwrapping the bandage around his hand. Baekhyun hadn't even noticed it before. How long had Chanyeol had that bandage? He stood far away and watched as Chanyeol wiped angry tears from his face. Baekhyun immediately felt sorry. He realized he had no idea what Chanyeol had lived through, even if he had lived a perfect life, didn't mean that he had never faced challenges.

"I'm sorry." He uttered out before he could even know what was coming out of his mouth. Chanyeol looked up with tears filled eyes and wiped them off.

"What do you want?"

Baekhyun sighed looking down. "I'm sorry." Baekhyun repeated. "I'm not really an apology person." He explained his awkwardness.

"I'm honored." Chanyeol said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Look Chanyeol, I'm trying really hard to be nice here." Baekhyun said trying to keep the bite of of his voice.

"Well don't."

"Fine I won't!" He snapped.

Chanyeol sniggered. Today was such a horrible horrible day he couldn't believe it was his life. Or maybe the past few years had been a wonderful dream and this was finally when he woke up on the right side of the bed. Chanyeol looked at the sky and drove both his fists into the ground.

"Do you not need your hand?" Baekhyun asked, still spectating Chanyeol's behavior.

"Why are you still here." Chanyeol threw back. "Shouldn't you be hiding in your cocoon?"

"Okay, don't take it far." Baekhyun warned.

"So you can and I can't?" Chanyeol raised an eyebrow.

"I apologized." Baekhyun persisted.

"Words are just that Baekhyun, words. Words can't heal what they inflict."

"Is this a philosophy lesson?" Baekhyun said, ignoring Chanyeol.

"Why did you even come out here."

"Kyungsoo sent me to apologize to yo--"

"You did. You got it off your chest." Chanyeol said. "Now leave me alone!"

"And Sehun didn't want you to be left alone." He finished.

Chanyeol looked up at Baekhyun skeptically. "Didn't seem to bother him this morning." He mumbled bitterly.

"What was that?" Baekhyun asked who hasn't heard clearly.

"Nothing." Chanyeol said and raised his hand in an apology gesture "For god's sake leave me the hell alone all of you."

"I will leave on my own account!" Baekhyun fired back.

Chanyeol threw the bandages off of his hand to the ground and stood up. "Forget this, it's childish." He grumbled and started walking away. Baekhyun frowned and advanced at Chanyeol, grabbing his hand to stop him. 

Chanyeol let out a yelp when Baekhyun accidentally pulled him by his injured hand. Baekhyun let go immediately and Chanyeol cradled it to his chest.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry!" Baekhyun said much more genuinely this time. "You should have shown it to Lay."

Baekhyun tried to pry Chanyeol's good hand off of the injured one to take a look but Chanyeol pulled back. "I already showed it to a doctor today. I'm fine." Chanyeol supplied and stared down. So did Baekhyun, standing in awkward silence.

"Look I'm really sorry I said that. I had no right to judge your life." Chanyeol raised an eyebrow and peered at Baekhyun for a while before replying.

"Don't worry. I've had worse today." Chanyeol didn't know why he just said that he rubbed his eyes. He felt weak and disoriented. He was sleepy and tired. He realised he hadn't eaten anything since last night and he also remembered that Sehun hadn't eaten much as well.

"Can you make sure Sehun eats and then sleeps well he ... He was up last night and he didn't eat all day." Chanyeol requested.

"Did you?" Baekhyun questioned. Chanyeol didn't reply and continued looking down at his hands.

"Come on." Baekhyun offered Chanyeol a hand. "You need to eat too." 

"I can't right now. I need to talk to Junmyeon hyung."

Worry crossed Baekhyun's features. "Is he okay?" Baekhyun inquired.

"That's what I wanna know." Chanyeol replied pursing his lips.

"Can I stay here while you do that?" Baekhyun asked and for the first time Chanyeol saw the vulnerability that Baekhyun was hiding, the actual fear for the ones he cared about. Chanyeol nodded and took out his phone.

He dialed, once, twice, trice, but there was no answer. Chanyeol sighed and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Let's go back." Baekhyun said. 

"Why don't you go ahead. I'll come in a while." Chanyeol replied.

"You won't do anything stupid like Sehun said?" Baekhyun asked.

"What?! No!"

"Really, that hand looks really tender though." Baekhyun said, eyeing his injured hand.

"I'm fine!" Chanyeol insisted. "Byun, get out of my hair please."

"Oh god! I am not gonna argue with you again." Baekhyun said and went back to the house. Chanyeol watched him go and paced a little.

He didn't want to go into the house and face Sehun, he couldn't. He wanted Sehun to fall asleep before he could go back to the house so after a while of pacing he sat back down and waited.

***

"Where's Sehun?" Baekhyun asked when he didn't find the youngest male. 

"We put him to bed." Taeyeon said. 

"Wait did he eat anything? Chanyeol said he hadn't eaten all day." Baekhyun asked.

"I made a light meal for him, he said he ate a little bit before coming to us." Baekhyun nodded.

"Where’s Tao?" 

"He was calling Kris." Kyungsoo answered.

"Kris?" Baekhyun inquired.

"That's the guy he learned martial arts with. He works with Luhan." Baekhyun's eyes widened in recognition.

"You want to give Luhan our address?"

Kyungsoo rubbed his hands together. "We were debating that while you were gone, that's why Tao is talking to Kris to ask if Luhan can be trusted."

"I see." Baekhyun nodded and went to check up on Tao.

***

When Chanyeol went back inside, the living room was empty except Kyungsoo. He was on the computer with a hard drive attached to it. He looked around for everyone else, there was no one there. Chanyeol noticed the new house only then, it wasn't much different than the last only with access to an extra bathroom and bedroom. 

Kyungsoo noticed Chanyeol looking around. 

"Sehun's asleep." He told Chanyeol.

"Oh, I - I wasn't really looking for Sehun."

Kyungsoo gave Chanyeol an unconvinced look."If you say so. He is asleep. I'll be pairing up with him for tonight. Lay and Tao are noisy sleepers so they're together in one room. You and Baekhyun will be in the last room. Upstairs the second door." Kyungsoo explained even though Chanyeol hadn't asked. "You can stay here if you want. Feel at home." Kyungsoo offered and turned back to the computer. The download from the hard drive was almost complete.

Chanyeol proceeded to go upstairs. Kyungsoo detached the hard drive when the download was complete and looked through the stuff. There was a new folder he had created earlier that day but hadn't had the time to check up on it. It was the one he had made for Junmyeon as he had called him before Chanyeol and Sehun came to them in the last house. Junmyeon had asked him to clean his phone and any data that his boss might have collected from his phone. There was a particular video that Junmyeon had asked him to protect at all costs. He opened that address and then the video to see what it was about. He knew he shouldn't be snooping around and he didn't he only wanted to see what the video was about. But as soon as he opened it. He relented and closed it again. He'll show it to Sehun first. He shouldn't snoop. He'll show it to Sehun once the man is feeling better. Kyungsoo sat there to run the last security checks for almost an hour more, before he finally went to bed.

***

Chanyeol tiptoed into the room, the lights were on, he looked around for Baekhyun and noticed the bathroom light on. Chanyeol went to lie on one side of the bed and shut the lights off leaving only a small one burning just to leave the small outline of things visible. He didn't realise until he lay down on the bed how tired he actually was. Even if he had slept earlier, he was so tired and aching from every corner. That was the first time on that whole day that Chanyeol was finally alone and now that he was, his thoughts traveled back, back, back to the earlier events of that day. His eyes were burning from sleep but as soon as he closed his eyes, his thoughts went haywire.

Everything that had happened since that morning flashed behind his closed eyelids. He wanted it to stop so he rubbed his eyes so hard that he saw stars replace the things he did not want to remember. He heard the clicking of a lock and then a creek of it opening wide. Baekhyun let out a loud gasp when he looked outside, Chanyeol vaguely noticed Baekhyun's hand on his chest clutching at the heart in shock. 

"Are you okay?" Chanyeol asked Baekhyun who still hadn't moved a step. Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol and the fear was visible there. Out of all emotions this fear was something Baekhyun had never been able to hide well.

"I just -- I didn't -- I left the lights on." He struggled to say. Chanyeol, having a pyrophobia of his own, understood Baekhyun's feelings and thoughts. He immediately got out of bed and turned the lights of the room on.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were afraid of dark." Chanyeol said without realising that maybe Baekhyun would feel uneasy getting caught like that.

"Who said I'm afraid of dark." Baekhyun posed so quickly and defensively that it was hard not to catch on and Chanyeol did.

"You're getting defensive Byun." He smirked repeating Baekhyun's own line back to him from a day prior. 

Baekhyun groaned and finally moved from his spot and sat down on the bed.

"Don't start Yeol and do you know you're younger than me? You should use honorifics." Baekhyun scoffed.

"I'll pass." Chanyeol replied and laid back down. He really didn't want to fall asleep. He gathered that he would wait for Kyungsoo to leave the living room, then he would go there when Baekhyun was asleep too. So if his nightmares came back he won't be a bother to anyone. However as soon as Chanyeol laid down, his eyes started getting droopy.

First 20 or 30 minutes were easy to stay awake and even a little worrisome for Chanyeol who had shared a room with Baekhyun for the first time. He had to get up several times to check up on Baekhyun. Later he realised it must just be one of Baekhyun's habits. Baekhyun took 30 minutes before he was deeply asleep and during the time his sleep was lighter he yelped about 40 times like a ... Like a puppy, Chanyeol decided. He looked at Baekhyun closely and finally noticed his soft features and ... Oh god, was that a white hair? Baekhyun was going to freak out. Baekhyun was a decently handsome and beautiful guy, Chanyeol determined, just not so much from the mouth... His lips were rather pretty, but not what came out of them when he spoke. He had sharp blades there that he sometimes couldn't control, like today. And that led Chanyeol back to the thoughts of the day he had spent and how horrible it had been. 

His eyes got heavier and heavier and his mind clouded over with the memories of the past day and just when he thought he couldn't stay awake anymore, Baekhyun yelped for the last time and Chanyeol held his breath after that, waiting for another yelp. During that moment of wait he didn't know when he finally entered sleep's embrace.

***

Baekhyun was small for his age, he had always been. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was a sickly child growing up. And the fact that he lost his mother really early did not help with the matter. He was in his room watching the clouds roll against the sky that was constantly getting dark. The moon was full and the skies were mostly clear with stars visible. Baekhyun loved looking at the stars and therefore he loved the night time, it was dark and it was peaceful with zero sounds. To Baekhyun even as a small boy it felt like a cover plus it kind of reminded him of his mother, he had last been with his mother at night time. He always looked at the sky since her death at the brightest star and talked to it. He had a feeling that somewhere, sometimes his mother was looking at the same star and that was the reason he waited for the night to fall everyday.

Baekhyun was aware of his dream as he watched the clouds, he remembered having this dream many many times before. It could go two ways and the fact that he was aware right now of what was happening was a bad sign. He usually only remembered bad dreams.Baekhyun wanted to wake so bad, he didn't want to live through it again. He didn't want to remember the last night he had enjoyed the darkness the last time he had bathed in the feeling that he got from the soundless skies above him.

The little Baekhyun around 8 years old was unable to watch the stars from his telescope that day, he had been feeling sick since that morning and and usually his mother took care of him and she wasn't here he had gone to tell his dad but seeing him the way he had been for a few months, abusive and drunk, he went back to his room and here he stayed. Hungry because there was nothing to eat in the house and he didn't want to ask his dad anything that would bring on the wrath again. Now that Baekhyun hadn't gotten a beating in a couple of days, he didn't want to break the chain on the third day. 

Baekhyun wanted to go down stairs and get something to eat, there might be some leftovers. And he wanted to see if there was anything in the bathroom medicine cabinet. He didn't yet know what medicine to take and his reading was poor and the details were to hard for him to comprehend and that worried him. What if he didn't survive the night.

Baekhyun's mother had a friend, he called her Aunt Doh. She was also the mother of his best friend. She had taken it upon herself to come daily or at least whenever she could to check up on Baekhyun ever since his mom had left. She had tried to take him with her but Baekhyun didn't want to and his father always got aggressive at that proposal.

Footsteps.

Baekhyun covered his face with the blanket, turned to his side and pretended to sleep. 

His father never usually hurt him in the night time that was why he felt so safe and peaceful then but if his dad was coming now it couldn't be a good promise.

Baekhyun tried not to shiver as the door of his room creeked open and his dad came in. He heard the sniffles and hiccups and couldn't guess what was going on. The father approached him and slid Baekhyun's cover down to reveal his face and Baekhyun bit his tongue inside his mouth to keep from squirming. The bed dipped as his father sat down on the bed. Baekhyun felt a hand caressing his skin, but it was not a harsh touch as it usually was from his father ... His father was, crying? Was he crying? 

Baekhyun questioned himself but remained still. He heard his father put something on the bed. A light whisper of "I'm sorry." A kiss on his forehead and cheek and then the man was gone. Baekhyun did not move or even open his eyes even when he knew that he was alone. He heard some weird sounds like furniture toppling and only then did he get up. Thinking it was his father who'd passed out drunk somewhere. Baekhyun was so used to this and each time it happened, Baekhyun took the blankets each time from his father's room and put it on his father wherever he'd be.

He got up again to get the blankets and went downstairs to his father and mother's room. The door was closed,maybe his dad was inside. He contemplated whether he should stay here or go in, he decided on the latter. He kept his eyes on the ground to search for his father there but then he saw feet but not on the ground.

He looked at them dangling in front of his eyes and slowly, very slowly, his gaze traced the body upwards, hanging from the ceiling fan. Baekhyun shrieked when he saw his father's face, the eyes were bulging, the tongue was out of his mouth, the nose was red, the neck was unnaturally long and it was set at a weird angle. The whole scene was traumatizing for the kid as he stumbled back in the dark, screaming on the top of his lungs. Screaming so hard that he ran out of breath and the darkness consumed him and then ...

Baekhyun sat up in bed screaming silently. The whole room was drowned in darkness. He gasped for breath, throwing the covers off of himself with shaking fingers to get up and get the lights, the lights!

Bathroom was closer, Baekhyun stumbled in there and got the light switch. Breathing and gasping as the image of the mutilated corpse left his head and he sat on the floor trying to catch his breath.

***

Chanyeol was walking to cafe universe, a little down spirited but he couldn't tell why, he vaguely remembered that it was his birthday and then suddenly as if one detail cleared the other he remembered that his friends had forgotten to wish him a happy birthday. He didn't even care about those things then why did that make him sad he couldn't tell. He stood at the walking path on the side of the road in the sunlight, waiting for the signal and when it finally did turn green for the people crossing the road, Chanyeol started walking, he was the only one crossing the road and he felt like no matter how much he walked he was still in the center of the road. He looked behind him and he was equally far from that side of the road as well.

Only then did he notice that the sky was completely black there was a light smell of burning but he couldn't tell what was burning even though he could see the smoke. He saw a car approaching but he couldn't move, no matter how much he walked, he stayed where he was. The car should see him, it should stop, he tried to calm himself down. But the car showed no signs of slowing down and kept going. Chanyeol closed his eyes when he thought there was no way for him to escape.

It was then that a hand yanked him away to the other side of the road. A little lost and disoriented he opened his eyes to find it was daylight again and Sehun was speaking. 

"What the hell Hyung? You should be more careful! Why don't you see everyone is trying to help you but you just don't take my hand."

Chanyeol couldn't decipher how he should take it in, positive or negative and he sensed like Sehun had said something like that to him before. Chanyeol searched his memories for it and he vaguely remembered a bus stop and then the scene vanished as Sehun led him to a diner.

Then it tuned into one of his favorite dreams, and he let out a sigh of relief. So it was not going to be bad. It was going to be nice, where he had everything. He remembered that it was his birthday and there were people in the diner who'd prepared a surprise for him. He entered the diner to something falling on him. Something wet and smelly with a acidic ting. Chanyeol was shocked, this was a new. His whole body was tense, thankfully none of it fell on his face. Chanyeol recognized the smell, still he brought his hand to his face to smell it and make sure he wasn't making a mistake.

Gasoline.

He looked up, who the hell was he facing? 

But there was no change in people present there except for the addition of Baekhyun. He was a new addition. There was Junmyeon, Sehun and Junmyeon's father and two other faceless people, presumably Chanyeol's parents. They were are looking at him dead on and with a scorned look in their eyes and a smirk on their lips. It scared him how he deciphered these expression on that featureless face. Chanyeol stood their shocked and frozen not moving an inch. 

"We thought we'd give you s surprise." Said the man supposed to be his father.

"You need to make this absolutely clear son looks like you got ahead of yourself for a while there." The woman spoke, the one supposed to be his mother.

"You are a disappointment. You are the reason I am dead and I can't be with my son." Junmyeon's dad said.

"We meant every word we said to you." Said Sehun taking a step forward. His hand went to his pocket. Chanyeol stared in horror as Junmyeon followed the movement.

"I mean that you are a murderer, and that you were a mistake from the start." Junmyeon added.

"You don't deserve to be here." Said everyone simultaneously. 

Chanyeol's parents and Junmyeon's father surrounded him and the other two approached with a lighter in their hands. "We're gonna send you back to hell." They all said together.

Chanyeol took a step back but he was trapped against the wall. His heart rate increased as the flames appeared. 

"No." He whispered unable to voice it out loud. "Stop." He yelled shrinking against the wall.

"No! Please, please!" He shouted but the people kept coming at him. This was not at all how this was supposed to go.

"You deserve to die Chanyeol!" Sehun and Junmyeon said together as they extended the lighter towards him. Chanyeol started to sink down to the ground sliding against the wall yelling and shouting and pushing against his parents who worked hard to keep him in place.

"Let go! Let go! No! Stop it! Stop it!

Baekhyun looked through the bathroom door that was open, a crack and a streak of light that illuminated Chanyeol’s face a little and he could see what was happening. He splashed water on his own face one more time and shut the tap before dashing towards the other male to wake him up. Baekhyun was only one step out of the bathroom when Chanyeol sprang up in bed in panic looking around in the dark, to imagine that whatever he had seen was a dream and this was the reality, which was not any better come to think of it. Baekhyun decided to help and turned the light on, drowning the room in light. Chanyeol was still sleepy and he covered his eyes with his hand to stop the light from irritating them.

Baekhyun walked over to his side of the bed and sat down beside Chanyeol’s leg and placed a hand on his elbow reassuringly.Chanyeol’s gaze settled on Baekhyun, perspiration was dotting his forehead and his mouth was agape trying to breath in as much air as he possibly could. Realizing finally that he was awake and out of his nightmare, Chanyeol closed his eyes and breathed deeply, rubbing his eyes to wipe the last remnants of sleep.

“Nightmares?” Baekhyun asked kindly when Chanyeol finally opened his eyes and was looking at him. Chanyeol sighed and nodded, Baekhyun pursed his lips in contemplation.

“Come with me.” Said Baekhyun and he stood up offering Chanyeol a hand. Chanyeol took it and Baekhyun pulled him up with more strength than Chanyeol thought him capable of.

“Where are we going?” Chanyeol inquired as Baekhyun led him out of the room.

“Not to a picnic Yeol.” Chanyeol followed Baekhyun quietly down the stairs. Baekhyun pointed at the couch and Chanyeol sat down.

“Where are you going?” Chanyeol asked when Baekhyun didn’t sit down with him.

“Going to the kitchen.” Baekhyun gestured, to the kitchen behind him. “To make some cocoa.”

“Do you even know how to make it?” Chanyeol raised his eyebrow.

“Baekhyun hesitated. “I saw Junmyeon hyung make it once.”

Chanyeol left his seat and passed Baekhyun by to go to the kitchen. “You know, Kyungsoo loves the kitchen.” Chanyeol opened cabinets and searched for the stuff he needed. “How do you have these luxury supplies here in this safe house anyway?” He said, reading something on the milk box.

“Chen bought a lot of stuff.” Baekhyun explained. As they waited for their hot cocoa, Chanyeol let his palms rest on the shelf and leaned on it while Baehyun leaned against the shelf.

“Nightmare for you too?” Chanyeol asked out of the blue. Baekhyun hummed lightly in response.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have turned the lights off. But you were asleep and I didn’t think it would matter.” Chanyeol started.

“It wasn’t because of…” Baekhyun shook his head, he felt uneasy discussing the things that scared him and there were very little of those so it was always unnerving. “The light--the dark I guess …” He sighed.

“I’m afraid of fire.” Chanyeol said, and then went to pour the cocoa in two mismatched mugs. Baekhyun examined Chanyeol’s features and expression while he waited, and saw something familiar there. The same instilled insecurity about something that he shared.

Chanyeol shut the kitchen light and they both went outside on the porch. The night was’t dark, there were a few stars and a half moon that illuminated their surroundings just enough to make out outlines.

They both sat there in silence, talking about nothing in particular and examined the stars.

“I am Taurus.” Baekhyun replied to Chanyeol who had asked.

“Cool.” Chanyeol smiled. “So you do believe in that stuff?”

Baekhyun shook his head. “Nah, I don’t usually have the time to. This is the most free time I have had since my last vacation. Which was one and a half years ago.”

“No way.” Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun in disbelief.

“Well it's true… The whole of last year was a big mission of constant scheming and putting my plans in action, taking every step with measure.”

“It must get really stressful for you.” Chanyeol provided.

Baekhyun frowned in thought for a moment. “Not essentially, I love my job.” Baekhyun rubbed his nose. “The pressure and the stress distracts me from things y’know.”

“I want that too but every time I try someone rubs it back in my face and who I am.” Chanyeol said quietly.

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol.” Why do you let other define you like that?”

"I don't." Chanyeol defended himself.

"You do." Baekhyun insisted. "I've only known you for a couple of days really and we've only ever talked even less than an hour total. But this i am sure about." Baekhyun's eyes turned intense. "Each time you feel even remotely threatened you pull back or get extremely defensive and insecure."

“I don’t … I just …” Chanyeol fell quiet. “I don’t know.”

"You don't have to show others that you deserve a place in this world Yeol." Baekhyun insisted. "Because you do. Just as much as everyone else. You have the same rights to same things they do. Stop proving why you have to live. If you keep finding excuses to show to others of why you want to enjoy life like them, they will just call them that as well, excuses."

Chanyeol scratched his ear. "Well ..." He paused. "That was deep shit." He smiled coyly and put his empty mug beside him on the porch and rubbed his burn scar.

“A burn?” Baekhyun inquired. “That little scar led you to hate fire?” he scoffedd not being able to help himself.

Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun, visibly annoyed by his quips where he wasn’t aware of what he was even saying. “Can you not be judgy for a moment.” He barked at Baekhyun who was obviously taken a back by this out burst.

Chanyeol composed himself and inhaled deeply. “I don’t know why, maybe I don’t remember,” Chanyeol stared into the distance as he talked. Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol focusing on every word. “I have these dreams, I see fire,” He paused and gathered the right words. “There is a woman, who’s burning, she’s screaming so loud that I feel like I will lise my ability to hear because of it.”

“Who is she?” Baekhyun asked in a small whisper when Chanyeol paused.

“I don’t know. I have a hunch but I'm not sure.” He answered honestly. “I just know it pulls at my heart to see it. I can see it in such detail that it makes me sick to my stomach” 

Baekhyun looked down, now feeling bad for his quip earlier.

“There has been a lot in my past.” Chanyeol said, rubbing his forehead. “I mean, I can’t even believe it now that I think back, most of it was from before when I was ten and I should forget it already.” Chanyeol said. “But it still matters to me. That time, everything I felt is still in me and that is what compels me to be that person who seeks everyone’s approval and one small thing even can …”Chanyeol stopped suddenly.

“Forget it,” he said. “I don’t even know why I am even saying this.” Chanyeol looked at the other male. Baekhyun thought that Chanyeol was now expecting him to retail his own original tales of the fears that he held.

“I- I don’t really…” Baekhyun stumbled not wanting to talk about the thing that haunted him. The fear of darkness and another one. One that he never allowed himself to think about much, but it was always there in the back of his mind, itching and caressing his consciousness.

“You don’t have to talk about it.” Chanyeol quickly offered. Baekhyun shuddered a little due to the cold, now that the hot cocoa was finished the cold was creeping back in. Baekhyun had always been more prone to it. Chanyeol quickly put his jacket around Baekhyun’s shoulders, he had brought it outside suspecting the cold to be biting but he didn’t need it after the hot drink. Baekhyun clutched it close to his frame and gave Chanyeol a thankful smile. All without a single word being spoken and a bit of awkwardness hanging in the between. Now out of things to say, they sat in pregnant silence.

"How did you know I couldn't make cocoa." Baekhyun asked suddenly.

"Multiple reasons." Chanyeol smirked. "First, you Byun, and kitchen are two opposites. Two, well those hands of yours don't look like they are made for cooking. Although I admit they don't seem like they are made for guns either." Chanyeol paused for effect. "And... Kyungsoo. The way he panicked two days ago."

"Fair enough." Baekhyun admitted and laughed. 

Silence ensued again for a long time.

“We should go inside.” Chanyeol suggested to Baekhyun who was hugging his knees.

“Yeah.” Baekhyun replied.

Baekhyun grabbed both the mugs in one hand and clutched the jacket around his shoulders with the other while Chanyeol opened the door for the both of them.

Baekhyun put the mugs in the sink and washed them.

Chanyeol was standing in the doorway of the kitchen watching Baekhyun’s hands clean the cups.

“I’m sorry Chanyeol.” Baekhyun said suddenly and the mug slipped from his hand and fell into the sink but thankfully didn’t break, Baekhyun sighed in frustration. Chanyeol saw this and approached, he took the mugs and started to rinse the dish wash soap.

“You know underneath all the mean comments and useless arguments, you might actually be a decent guy.” Chanyeol said as he put the first mug down, Baekhyun picked up the second one and handed it to Chanyeol to wash. 

“Yeah and underneath all the defenses and insecurities, you might actually be a little entertaining to be around.” Chanyeol had now washed his hands and he shook his hands to get rid of the water droplets on them so that they landed on Baekhyun’s face, he flinched in surprise.

“Asshole.” He let out in surprise.

“Oh you got a big mouth there.”

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes. “Don’t start yeol.” he said and wiped his face on Chanyeol’s shoulder wetting the shirt he was wearing.

“Hey!” Chanyeol complained.

“Shut up, I’m cold.” Baekhyun’s mouth formed a small pout as he took Chanyeol’s jacket from around his shoulders and put it on and wiped the rest of the water on his face with the sleeves.

“We should sleep now.” Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a smirk at that.

“Oh my god Byun, Your mouth and mind, both are in the gutter.” He said and walked out of the kitchen. Baekhyun ran out too and past Chanyeol, up the stairs two at a time and into the room. 

Baekhyun fell asleep faster again and Chanyeol lay awake listening to Baekhyun’s puppy yelps, counting them, only 13 this time before he fell asleep hoping that the male next to him would dream of something pleasing to the childlike heart that he possessed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Welcome to Been Through. This story was able to come to life through equal and great efforts of two people. It came to one of us in a dream so we will try to stay as true to what we saw as we can. We are not native speakers of English so please excuse our measly errors. The pace of this story is slow, since its a crime fiction, we wanted to focus on the details so you might have to wait for your favorite characters to appear. However it is our great wish to keep all EXO members in and to give each of them their own arch even if a small one. We really hope that you enjoy this story. Your comments and kudos are welcomed. Thank you for reading.


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